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Drinking Water Quality Management System

1. Access to safe drinking water is essential to public health. Hong Kong enjoys one of the safest drinking water supply in the world with the quality complying fully with the Hong Kong Drinking Water Standards. The Water Supplies Department (WSD) is committed to providing a safe, clean and reliable water supply to customers in Hong Kong. Stringent water treatment combined with comprehensive monitoring control of the treated water quality are essential steps in safeguarding public health.

    

2. WHO introduced the Framework for Safe Drinking Water (Figure 1) in 2004 and considers application of this framework as an effective means to assure the quality of drinking water for the protection of public health.

    

   
   Figure 1 Framework for Safe Drinking Water

    

3. The major components of the framework include:

    

   1. The Health-based Targets that are derived based on an evaluation of health risks from drinking water;
   2. The Water Safety Plan (WSP) which is the management tool used to assist in meeting the Health-based Targets using a risk-based and multiple barrier approach; and
   3. A system of independent surveillance that verifies the fulfilment of the Health-based Targets and proper implementation of the WSP based on public health context and health outcome.
4. The central component of the Framework for Safe Drinking Water is the WSP, which consists of the following essential elements:

    

   1. A system assessment throughout the drinking water supply system to identify potential risks and the corresponding control measures;
   2. Monitoring procedures to ensure that the control measures are properly implemented; and
   3. Management and communication procedures to document and support implementation of the WSP.
5. WSD has developed and implemented the WSP of WSD since 2007 to safeguard the quality of water supply. WSD has reviewed the departmental WSP in 2017 and further enhanced the plan by developing an integrated Drinking Water Quality Management System (DWQMS) of WSD based on international experts’ recommendations as well as the overseas practice in Western Australia. The DWQMS has incorporated the major components of the Framework for Safe Drinking Water, including the Health-based Targets, WSP of WSD and Surveillance as an integrated system for management of drinking water quality. In addition, the water quality policy and principle of water quality management of WSD are also clearly delineated in the DWQMS. The document structure of the DWQMS is depicted in Figure 2.

    

   
   Figure 2 Document Structure of the DWQMS of WSD

6. Implementation of the DWQMS is overseen by a steering group of the WSD which regularly reviews the DWQMS for update and further improvement. Besides, the Development Bureau acts as an independent party to arrange for the surveillance on treated water quality in conjunction with the Department of Health to ensure safety of drinking water. Please refer to the Annual Report on Drinking Water Quality in Hong Kong published by the Development Bureau.
   

    

7. The DWQMS has been implemented since July 2017.