Water safety planning application for aesthetic quality of drinking water

The World Health Organization considers water quality aesthetic parameters affecting taste, odor, and appearance as factors to be monitored to determine the overall safety of water. Water safety plans (WSPs) can be used by utilities to proactively identify aesthetic hazards, rank them by likelihood of occurrence and consequence to the utility, generate risk scores, and provide direction on how to monitor, mitigate, and verify that controls are in place. The City of Wichita Falls Public Water System (CWF PWS) used the water safety planning approach to outline how aesthetics may negatively affect the system from source water, in-plant processes, and into the distribution system. By proactively identifying these hazards and outlining what to do using a WSP, the utility has put measures in place to ensure that aesthetically acceptable water is delivered to their customers. This article outlines the water safety planning process for water quality aesthetics and how the CWF PWS developed and implemented its WSP.