ISO/TS 24520:2017
(Main)Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems — Crisis management — Good practice for technical aspects
Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems — Crisis management — Good practice for technical aspects
ISO/TS 24520:2017 provides guidance to water utilities on good practice in technical aspects of crisis management. ISO/TS 24520:2017 is applicable to all water utilities, of whatever size, whether public or private, that wish to review the effectiveness and efficiency of their service activities relating to preparation for, response to and recovery from a crisis.
Activités relatives aux services de l'eau potable et de l'assainissement — Gestion de crise — Les bonnes pratiques pour les aspects techniques
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 24520
First edition
2017-09
Service activities relating to drinking
water supply systems and wastewater
systems — Crisis management — Good
practice for technical aspects
Activités relatives aux services de l’eau potable et de
l’assainissement — Gestion de crise — Les bonnes pratiques pour les
aspects techniques
Reference number
©
ISO 2017
© ISO 2017, Published in Switzerland
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ii © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword .v
Introduction .vi
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Concepts and principles . 7
4.1 General . 7
4.2 Crisis management phases . 8
5 Preparedness .10
5.1 General .10
5.2 Establishing the context .11
5.3 Commitment .12
5.4 Risk assessment .12
5.5 Procedures and plans, responding, repairing and restoring .12
5.6 Structure and organization .13
5.7 Procedures and tools to identify a crisis and initiate the crisis management team.13
5.8 Training and exercise .15
5.9 Crisis management team .16
5.10 Communication and cooperation.16
5.10.1 Crisis management team communications with users and other stakeholders .16
5.10.2 Cooperation and communications between the water utility and the
relevant authorities in the event of a crisis .18
5.11 Provisions of plans and resources .20
5.11.1 Emergency physical facilities .20
5.11.2 Water utility personnel safety measures .20
5.11.3 Sampling and analysis capability and capacity .20
5.11.4 Alternative water supply .20
5.11.5 Resource availability .20
5.12 Monitoring and review .20
5.13 Documentation .20
6 Response .21
6.1 General .21
6.2 Situation ascertainment .21
6.3 Situation assessment .21
6.4 Decision making .22
6.5 Implementation of decisions and issuing of orders .22
6.6 Supervision and control .22
6.7 Process for risk assessment during a crisis .22
6.8 Communications feedback .23
7 Recovery to normal operation.23
7.1 General .23
7.2 Survey for restoration purposes .23
7.3 Restoration alternatives .24
7.4 Priorities in recovery .24
7.5 Planning the deployment of recovery measures .25
7.6 Repairing the damage .25
7.7 Verification .26
7.7.1 General.26
7.7.2 Verification of quality in the drinking water supply system .26
7.7.3 Verification of quality in the wastewater system .26
7.8 Restoring the service .27
7.8.1 General.27
7.8.2 Restoration of drinking water service .27
7.8.3 Restoration of wastewater service .27
7.9 Assessments for recovery stage .27
8 Monitoring and review of the crisis management system .27
8.1 Performance measurement and monitoring .27
8.2 Issues to address when monitoring the performance of a training procedure .28
8.3 Crisis management system maintenance process .28
8.4 Crisis management system assessment .29
9 Management review .29
Annex A (informative) Preparedness.31
Annex B (informative) Recovery to normal operation .41
Bibliography .43
iv © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following
URL: w w w . i s o .org/ iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 224, Service activities relating to drinking
water supply systems and wastewater systems — Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators.
Introduction
Water is the source of life, without which humans, as well as other species, cannot survive. In many
countries, there is a lack of knowledge regarding crisis management of drinking water and wastewater
services.
Impairment of the drinking water service would change the quality of life of the affected population
in the immediate period while in the medium-term it could affect their ability to survive. Therefore,
the continuous and orderly supply of clean water is of paramount importance for the population. The
collection, treatment and safe disposal of sanitary wastewater are also important if illness and/or
inundation are to be prevented and the environment protected. This document describes good practice
in the establishment of technical crisis management systems drawn from experience contributed by
relevant national authorities.
The approach of a water utility when preparing for any crisis should encompass all pertinent aspects of
water supply and the collection, treatment and safe disposal of wastewater. The water utility needs to
cooperate with all relevant authorities concerned with the crisis. Effective crisis management should
ensure that the actions taken before, during and after the crisis consider the natural environment as
well as the impact on the health and wellbeing of the population. Effective communication with the
public is necessary to mitigate or prevent panic and to establish trust in the water utility by disclosing
important information appropriately in the area affected by a crisis, in neighbouring areas or to any
other stakeholders.
This document can be used as a toolkit by water utilities where they wish to review their current
capability to prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis in an effective and efficient manner. It
is not intended as a complete guide to crisis management. Water utilities can consult ISO 24518 if they
need further guidance.
vi © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION ISO/TS 24520:2017(E)
Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems
and wastewater systems — Crisis management — Good
practice for technical aspects
1 Scope
This document provides guidance to water utilities on good practice in technical aspects of crisis
management.
This document is applicable to all water utilities, of whatever size, whether public or private, that wish
to review the effectiveness and efficiency of their service activities relating to preparation for, response
to and recovery from a crisis.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
alternative wastewater service
wastewater (3.40) service (3.37) provided to users (3.39) by means other than through the normal
collection and treatment system
3.2
alternative water supply
water provided to users (3.39) by means other than through the normal treatment and distribution system
3.3
analysis
systematic examination in which the biological or technical system is decomposed into its component
parts using suitable methods, after which the parts are then organized and evaluated
Note 1 to entry: Analysis also includes water quality sampling operations carried out after sample preparation to
determine the amount of concentration of the analyte(s) of interest present in the sample.
3.4
asset
capital-forming goods used for the provision of the service (3.37)
Note 1 to entry: Assets can be tangible or intangible. Examples of tangible assets are land, buildings, pipes, tanks,
treatment plants, equipment and hardware. Examples of intangible assets are software and databases.
Note 2 to entry: Contrary to consumables, assets can be depreciated (tangible assets) or amortized (intangible
assets) in accounting systems.
3.5
audit
systematic, independent and documented process (3.30) for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it
objectively to determine the extent to which the audit criteria are fulfilled
Note 1 to entry: An audit can be an internal audit (first party) or an external audit (second party or third party)
and it can be a combined audit (combining two or more disciplines).
Note 2 to entry: “Audit evidence” and “audit criteria” are defined in ISO 19011.
3.6
availability
extent to which the infrastructure (3.20), assets (3.4), resources and employees of a water utility (3.41)
enable effective provision of services (3.37) to users (3.39) according to specified performances (3.27)
3.7
capability
quality (3.31) of being able to perform a given activity
3.8
competence
ability to apply knowledge and skills to achieve intended results
Note 1 to entry: Demonstrated competence is sometimes referred to as qualification.
3.9
consequence
outcome of an event affecting objectives (3.25)
3.10
continual improvement
recurring activity to enhance performance (3.27)
Note 1 to entry: The process (3.30) of establishing objectives (3.25) and finding opportunities for improvement is a
continual process through the use of audit (3.5) findings and audit conclusions, analysis (3.3) of data, management
(3.23) reviews or other means and generally leads to corrective action or preventive action.
3.11
crisis
event or situation which affects or is likely to affect the organization (3.26) or its provided services (3.37)
which requires more than the usual means of operation and/or organizational structures to deal with it
3.12
crisis management plan
document specifying which procedures (3.29) and associated resources should be applied by whom and
where to a particular type of crisis (3.11)
3.13
drinking water
DEPRECATED: potable water
water intended for human consumption
Note 1 to entry: Requirements (3.34) for drinking water quality (3.31) specifications are generally laid down by
the national relevant authorities. Guidelines are established by the World Health Organization (WHO).
3.14
effectiveness
extent to which planned activities are realized and planned results are achieved
3.15
efficiency
relationship between the result achieved and the resources used
2 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
3.16
environment
surroundings in which an organization (3.26) operates, including air, water, land, natural resources,
flora, fauna, humans and their interrelation
Note 1 to entry: Surroundings in this context extend from within an organization to the global system.
Note 2 to entry: For the application of this document, environment is considered as a specific stakeholder (3.38).
The interests of this specific stakeholder can be represented by relevant authorities (3.33), by the communities or
by other groups, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
3.17
hazard
source of potential harm
Note 1 to entry: Harm in the context of a water utility can include injury to stakeholders; compromising of public
health; degradation of the environment; a deterioration in service quality; reputational and/or financial damage;
and consequential sanctioning by the relevant authorities.
Note 2 to entry: Capacity for harm can also arise from compromised service provision. In this context a hazard
can be considered to be a biological, chemical, physical or radiological agent in, or condition of, water with the
potential to cause harm to public health or the environment (3.16). This perspective is based on the definition of
“hazard” in the WHO Water Safety Plan Manual [expanded to include “condition”, which includes quantity (i.e. a
shortage or an excess), hence making it applicable also to wastewater (3.40) service (3.37)].
Note 3 to entry: Other sources of potential harm exist within the water utility’s organizational context. These
hazards can be internal or external to the organization (3.26). Internal hazards could be tangible (e.g. a toxic
chemical store; potential energy stored behind a dam perched on a hillside above a town; a chamber potentially
containing a hazardous atmosphere) or intangible (e.g. poorly documented procedures; inadequate training; an
inappropriate organizational culture). External hazards could be tangible (e.g. earthquake; flooding; forest fire)
or intangible (e.g. social unrest; terrorism, cyber threat, corruption; financial instability).
3.18
hazardous event
event that introduces one or more hazards (3.17) to, or fails to remove them from, the drinking water
(3.13) system or the wastewater (3.40) system
Note 1 to entry: The equivalent French word for the English expression “hazardous event” is “evenement
dangereux”. However, the English word “danger” has been removed from this document as it is synonymous with
“hazard”. Both “hazard” and “danger” convey the concept of a potential risk (3.36). When it comes to describing
hazard, the English terminology remains consistent, e.g. “fire hazard”, but the equivalent French expression “Il y
a risque d’incendie” migrates to using the equivalent of the English term “risk”. The difficulty is that the meanings
of “hazard” and “risk” are subtly different in English. The first conveys the potential exposure (i.e. the impact)
while the second additionally conveys the likelihood of that impact’s occurrence (risk = impact × likelihood). So a
“hazardous event” might be a lightning strike in a wooded area. But if this occurred when the woodland was wet,
rather than dry, the risk of a resulting fire would be low rather than high.
3.19
incident
deviation from normal operating conditions
Note 1 to entry: An incident is characterized by its cause, the extent and the consequences (3.9) of the deviation.
3.20
infrastructure
system of facilities, equipment and services (3.37) needed for the operation of a utility organization (3.26)
Note 1 to entry: In a water utility (3.41), it is advisable to reserve the term “infrastructure” for physically fixed
equipment and installations.
3.21
interruption
situation where the service (3.37) is not available
Note 1 to entry: Interruptions can be planned or unplanned.
3.22
maintenance
combination of all technical, administrative and managerial actions during the life cycle of an asset (3.4)
intended to retain it in, or restore it to, a state in which it can perform the required function
3.23
management
coordinated activities to direct and control a service (3.37)
Note 1 to entry: Management can include establishing policies (3.28) and objectives (3.25), and processes (3.30) to
achieve these objectives.
Note 2 to entry: The word “management” sometimes refers to people, i.e. a person or group of people with
authority and responsibility for the conduct and control of a service. When “management” is used in this sense, it
should always be used with some form of qualifier to avoid confusion with the concept “management” as a set of
activities defined above. For example, “management should…” is deprecated, whereas “crisis management team
should…” is acceptable. Otherwise, different words should be adopted to convey the concept when related to
people, e.g. managerial or managers.
Note 3 to entry: The term “management” can be qualified by a specific domain it addresses. Examples are public
health management, environmental management, risk management, etc.
3.24
monitoring
determining the status of a system, a process (3.30), a product, a service (3.37) or an activity
Note 1 to entry: For the determination of the status, there can be a need to check, supervise or critically observe.
Note 2 to entry: Monitoring is generally a determination of the status of an object carried out at different stages
or different times.
3.25
objective
result to be achieved
Note 1 to entry: An objective can be strategic, tactical or operational.
Note 2 to entry: Objectives can relate to different disciplines (such as financial, health and safety, and
environmental objectives) and can apply at different levels [such as strategic, organization-wide, project, product
and process (3.30)].
Note 3 to entry: An objective can be expressed in other ways, e.g. as an intended outcome, a purpose, an
operational criterion, as a crisis (3.11) objective or by the use of other words with similar meaning (e.g. aim, goal
or target).
Note 4 to entry: In the context of a crisis management system, crisis objectives are set by the organization (3.26),
consistent with the crisis management policy (3.28), to achieve specific results.
3.26
organization
person or group of people that has its own functions with responsibilities, authorities and relationships
to achieve its objectives (3.25)
Note 1 to entry: The concept of organization includes, but is not limited to, sole-trader, company, corporation,
firm, enterprise, authority, partnership, association, charity or institution, or part or combination thereof,
whether incorporated or not, public or private.
Note 2 to entry: For the purposes of this document, the organization will usually be a water utility (3.41).
4 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
3.27
performance
measurable result
Note 1 to entry: Performance can relate either to quantitative or qualitative findings.
Note 2 to entry: Performance can relate to the management (3.23) of activities, processes (3.30), products, services
(3.37), systems or organizations (3.26).
3.28
policy
agreed intentions and direction for performing a service (3.37) as formally expressed by the technical
management board
3.29
procedure
specified way to carry out an activity or a process (3.30)
Note 1 to entry: Procedures can be documented or not.
3.30
process
set of interrelated or interacting activities that use inputs to deliver an intended result
3.31
quality
degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements (3.34)
Note 1 to entry: There is a clear distinction between quality of the product [drinking water (3.13) or treated
wastewater (3.40)] and quality of the service (3.37). This document does not give technical specifications for
product quality.
3.32
recovery
provision of policies (3.28), procedures (3.29) and process (3.30) that are necessary to restore operations
critical to the resumption of service (3.37)
Note 1 to entry: Recovery represents the last stage to be carried out during the crisis (3.11) phase and the post-
crisis phase prior to the routine operations.
3.33
relevant authority
public body entitled to set general policies (3.28), plans or requirements (3.34), or to check compliance
with these rules, concerning all the water utilities (3.41) included in its area of jurisdiction
EXAMPLE National, regional or local governments, public agencies, regulators.
Note 1 to entry: For a given water utility, there can be several relevant authorities, which have jurisdiction in
different domains.
3.34
requirement
need or expectation that is stated, generally implied or obligatory
Note 1 to entry: “Generally implied” means that it is custom or common practice for drinking water (3.13) or
wastewater (3.40) utilities, the users (3.39) of the service (3.37) and other stakeholders (3.38), that the need or
expectation under consideration is implied.
3.35
restriction
situation where the service (3.37) does not meet the availability (3.6) conditions specified in the service
agreement
Note 1 to entry: Restrictions can be planned or unplanned.
3.36
risk
combination of the likelihood of a hazardous event (3.18) and the severity of consequences (3.9), if the
hazard (3.17) occurs in the drinking water (3.13) supply or wastewater (3.40) system
Note 1 to entry: Risk is often characterized by reference to potential events and consequences or a combination
of these.
Note 2 to entry: The English term “likelihood” does not have a direct equivalent in some languages; instead, the
equivalent of the term “probability” is often used. However, in English, “probability” is often narrowly interpreted
as a mathematical term. Therefore, in risk management terminology, “likelihood” is used with the intent that it
should have the same broad interpretation as the term “probability” has in many languages other than English.
Note 3 to entry: Risk can also be defined as the effect of uncertainty on objectives (3.25), where uncertainty
is the state, even partial, of deficiency of information related to understanding or knowledge of an event, its
consequence (3.9) or likelihood.
3.37
service
result of a process (3.30)
Note 1 to entry: Service is the result of at least one activity necessarily performed at the interface between the
provider of the service and, in the first place, its user (3.39) and, in the second place, an stakeholder (3.38). Service
is generally intangible. Provision of a service can involve, for example, the following:
— activity performed on a tangible product supplied by the user, e.g. wastewater (3.40);
— activity performed on an intangible product coming from the user, e.g. processing new connection requests;
— delivery of an intangible product, e.g. delivery of information;
— creation of ambience for the user, e.g. reception offices.
Note 2 to entry: The word “service” in common English can also refer to the entity providing the actions related to
the subject in question, as is implicit in such phrases as “bus service”, “police service”, “fire service” and “water or
wastewater service”. In this context and usage, “service” implies the entity that is delivering the service, e.g. “the
public transport of passengers”, “the provision of public security”, “fire protection and response” and “delivering
drinking water or collecting wastewater”. If “service” can be understood in this way, “water service” becomes
synonymous with “water utility”; hence in this document, in order to avoid confusion, only this definition applies.
3.38
stakeholder
interested party
person or organization (3.26) that can affect, be affected by or perceive itself to be affected by a decision
or activity
EXAMPLE Users (3.39) and building owners, relevant authorities (3.33), responsible bodies, operators,
employees of the operator, external product suppliers and providers of other services (3.37), contractors,
communities, customers and environmental associations, financial institutions, scientific and technical
organizations, laboratories.
Note 1 to entry: Stakeholders will typically have an interest in the performance (3.27) or success of an
organization.
Note 2 to entry: For the application of this document, environment (3.16) is considered as a specific stakeholder.
6 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
3.39
user
person, group or organization (3.26) that benefits from drinking water (3.13) delivery and related
services (3.37) or from wastewater (3.40) service activities
Note 1 to entry: Users are a category of stakeholder (3.38).
Note 2 to entry: Users can belong to various economic sectors: domestic users, commerce, industry, tertiary
activities, agriculture.
Note 3 to entry: The term “consumer” can also be used, but in most countries the term “user” is more frequent
when referring to public services. It is not appropriate for wastewater services.
3.40
wastewater
water arising from any combination of domestic, institutional, commercial or industrial activities,
surface runoff and any accidental sewer inflow/infiltration water and which can include collected
stormwater, discharged to the environment (3.16) or sewer
Note 1 to entry: The definition of wastewater in this document also includes sanitary waste in undiluted form.
Note 2 to entry: Wastewater can flow in separate or combined sewer systems.
3.41
water utility
whole set of organization (3.26), processes (3.30), activities, means and resources necessary for
abstracting, treating, distributing or supplying drinking water (3.13) or for collecting, conveying,
treating and disposing of wastewater (3.40) and for providing the associated services (3.37)
Note 1 to entry: Some key features for a water utility are
— its mission, to provide drinking water services or wastewater services, or both,
— its physical area of responsibility and the population within this area,
— its responsible body,
— the general organization with the function of operator being carried out by the responsible body, or by
legally distinct operator(s), and
— the type of physical systems used to provide the services with various degrees of centralization.
Note 2 to entry: Drinking water utility addresses a utility dealing only with drinking water; wastewater utility
addresses a utility dealing only with wastewater.
Note 3 to entry: When it is not necessary or it is difficult to make a distinction between responsible body and
operator, the term “water utility” covers both.
Note 4 to entry: In common English, “water service” can be used as a synonym for “water utility”, but this
document does not recommend using the term in this way.
4 Concepts and principles
4.1 General
The water utility should establish crisis management plans during normal operations. These plans
should be based on risk assessments of the water utility’s operations and activities with relevant data
being gathered as necessary. These plans should enable the following:
— the early recognition of an actual or impending crisis situation;
— the provision of resources which may be needed in a crisis situation.
See Annex A for more details.
4.2 Crisis management phases
Crisis management is a phased system as described in Figure 1.
8 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
Figure 1 — Sequence of crisis management phases
Figure 2 illustrates the relationships of the sequence, overlap and relative intensity of the response,
recovery and restoration activities during the three phases of a crisis.
Key
intensity of activity
a ascertaining the failure
b declaring state of crisis
c declaring the end of crisis
d changeover to routine operation
Figure 2 — Sequence, overlap and intensity of activities during the phases of a crisis
Figure 2 illustrates an example of a rapid service interruption occurring after the response has been
initiated (e.g. due to declaration of a “boil water” notification). However, service interruption may be
both rapid and precede the response (e.g. due to a trunk water main burst) or both slow and subsequent
to the onset of the response (e.g. due to progressive foul flooding following a pump failure).
Figure 2 illustrates also that the beginning of work on recovery and restoration does not necessarily
have to wait for the response to be finished, but may begin in parallel to the response, and as early as
practicable in order to mitigate as much of the negative impact of the crisis as possible on users.
5 Preparedness
5.1 General
Systems, processes, procedures and tools should be established in advance under normal operation in
order to ensure the identification and effective management of a crisis.
In particular, plans and necessary resources should be determined in advance.
10 © ISO 2017 – All rights reserved
These should include the following:
— establishment of the context, taking in account all legal, environmental, regulatory and economic
requirements, as appropriate;
— commitment to establish a crisis management process;
— procedures for assessing risk;
— systems, processes and procedures for planning, responding, repairing, verifying and restoring
services;
— structure and organization;
— systems, processes and procedures for the recognition of the beginning of a crisis;
— procedures and tools to determine whether the crisis management team should be activated;
— identification, training and exercise of skilled members of staff to carry out the crisis management
plan duties;
— cooperation arrangements between the water utility and other relevant organizations;
— procedures for communication with users, other stakeholders and the public;
— provision of plans and resources;
— documentation;
— monitoring and review.
The water utility should identify the scale of events that could give rise to the need to invoke crisis
management plans and the largest scale of incident that it may have to deal with.
The maximum scale of event that a water utility should have crisis management plans in place for
should be determined through their risk assessment methodology or relevant authorities.
5.2 Establishing the context
In drawing up its crisis management plans, the water utility should determine all legal, environmental,
regulatory and economic requirements to be taken into account, together with any political, sociological,
technical and other issues or constraints that may require to be accommodated.
Where appropriate, these should be identified and highlighted in the crisis management plans.
Water utility policy relating to at least the following areas should be considered:
— drinking water quality;
— effluent requirements;
— environmental impact;
— public health;
— response plans to emergency or crisis situations;
— relevant authorities’ arrangements relating to emergency management;
— health and safety legislation;
— user service standards.
The water utility should take account of local and national arrangements of the civil authorities (e.g.
national and local government, police, health authorities, emergency services, etc.) for dealing with an
emergency.
The water utility should be aware of the types and severity of water supply or wastewater incident that
would trigger local, regional or national emergency management arrangements and the nature of these
arrangements.
The water utility should establish service levels that it aims to achieve when dealing with an
emergency. They should be determined during the pre-crisis phase as part of the preparation of the
crisis management plans.
Key areas for which service levels should be determined in advance include the following:
— the timescale to restore normal service (this may be aspirational);
— the type, and where applicable, quantity of alternative water supplies (e.g. bottled water, temporary
water tanks) and/or alternative wastewater services (e.g. storage tanks, temporary sewers, over-
pumping between manholes) and the timescale to establish the means of providing the alternative
water supplies or alternative wastewater services;
— the method and timescale for providing information to users;
— the method and timescale for providing information to other stakeholders;
— the specific support to be provided to special categories of user (e.g. hospitals, care homes for the
elderly, government and military establishments).
5.3 Commitment
The water utility should establish its commitment, in terms of providing resources and time for
employees to develop and implement crisis management systems, plans and procedures, including the
training and exercising of personnel and the testing of equipment, to meet the service levels it sets out.
The water utility should have arrangements prepared in advance for accessing funding to deal with
a crisis. An assessment of funding required should be made based on a probable worst case scenario
and the service levels that the water utility will aim to achieve. Arrangements should be established to
authorize spending to ensure that funding issues do not unduly delay the response. This could be done
through predetermined spending limits for key staff members defined in the roles and responsibilities
section of the crisis management plan.
5.4 Risk assessment
Procedures for risk assessment and determining risk control measures should be established in
advance to minimize the risks.
Guidance on the risk management procedure, risk assessment procedures and examples of crisis
situations are given in Clauses A.7, A.8 and A.9, respectively. Further guidance is given in IEC 31010 and
EN 15975-2.
All such procedures should be tested and staff members exercised with the agencies that may be
involved in a crisis.
The procedures should take account of local, regional and national arrangements for dealing with crises.
5.5 Procedures and plans, responding, repairing and restoring
The activities of planning, responding, repairing, verifying and restoring of the service and assessing
outcomes are essential elements of the normal operational and management activities of the water
utility and not necessarily crisis-specific. Depending on the technical development of the water utility,
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