(ISO: Geneva) -- A suite of new ISO standards offers practical tools to address the challenge of effectively managing water resources so as to provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for the world’s population.

ISO recently published three standards providing guidelines for services relating to drinking-water supply systems and wastewater sewage systems. These standards are designed to help water authorities and their operators achieve a level of quality that best meets the expectations of users and the principles of sustainable development.

“These ISO standards will play a primary role in promoting access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation through improved governance at all levels,” says ISO secretary-general Alan Bryden. “Their publication is a first step towards responding to the United Nations’ concern in recognizing that access to water is an essential human right.”

ISO 24510—“Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services—Guidelines for the assessment and for the improvement of the service to users,” is a service-oriented standard that addresses the following topics:

• A brief description of the components of the service relating to the users
• Core objectives for the service, with respect to users’ needs and expectations
• Guidelines for satisfying users’ needs and expectations
• Assessment criteria for service to users in accordance with the guidelines provided
• Examples of indicators linked to the assessment criteria that can be used for assessing the performance of the service

ISO 24511—“Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services—Guidelines for the management of wastewater utilities and for the assessment of wastewater services,” and ISO 24512—“Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services—Guidelines for the management of drinking water utilities and for the assessment of drinking water services,” both management-oriented, address the following topics:

• A brief description of the physical/infrastructural and managerial/institutional components of water utilities
• Core objectives for water utilities, considered to be globally relevant at the broadest level
• Guidelines for the management of the water utilities
• Guidelines for the assessment of the water services with service assessment criteria related to the objectives, and performance indicators linked to these criteria

The objective of these international standards is to provide the relevant stakeholders with guidelines for assessing and improving the service to users, and with guidance for managing water utilities, consistent with the overarching goals set by the relevant authorities. These standards are intended to facilitate dialogue among the stakeholders, enabling them to develop a mutual understanding of the functions and tasks that fall within the scope of water utilities.

They can also provide at the local level methods and tools to define objectives and specifications, and to assess and monitor performance for possible benchmarking among water utilities.

“One of the main objectives of the committee was to set up guidelines in order to develop a better mutual understanding of responsibilities and tasks of all stakeholders,” says Jean-Luc Redaud, chair of the ISO technical committee ISO/TC 224. “These standards will now have to be adapted to national or regional contexts. A strong orientation towards developing countries was taken by the TC with the creation of an ad hoc group, led by Morocco, in order to support developing countries in the application of these standards. A first trial of the standards has been launched in some African countries.”

The new standards were developed by ISO/TC 224—“Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems—Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators.”

For more information, visit http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1100.