A Partnership for Success:
Operations
Partnership for Safe Water Program Improves Water Quality and
Barb Martin, AWWA
Partnership for Safe Water Manager
Brief Description for Program
The Partnership for Safe Water is a self-assessment and optimization program for surface water
treatment plants and drinking water distribution systems. This presentation will provide a program
overview and describe the self-assessment process. Success stories from North American utilities and
water quality data will demonstrate the long term benefits of maintaining a utility focus on optimization
and continuous improvement.
Abstract
The Partnership for Safe Water was created in the mid-1990s, as a response to several Cryptosporidium
outbreaks, with a goal of helping water treatment plants reduce filtered water turbidity to reduce the
risk of microbial contamination and provide an added measure of public health protection. For nearly
20 years, the Partnership for Safe Water program has been helping utilities across North America,
including several in Canada, improve the quality of water delivered to customers by optimizing water
system operation. Optimization programs exist for both treatment plants and distribution systems. The
four phases of each Partnership program include:
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Phase I – Commitment to participate in the program through Phase III
Phase II – Collecting and submitting baseline CFE turbidity (treatment) or disinfectant residual
(distribution) data
Phase III - Completing a peer-reviewed comprehensive self-assessment of treatment plant or
distribution system operations, identifying factors within the system that may limit optimized
performance, and developing an action plan to enable the utility improve performance and
work towards optimization.
Phase IV (optional) – Demonstrated full optimization of treatment plant or distribution system
optimization
Water utilities are recognized industry-wide and locally for their progress through the phases and, in the
process, can realize a quantifiable improvement in water quality. On average, treatment plants that
complete a self-assessment demonstrate an average 60% reduction in their 95th percentile combined
filter effluent turbidity and develop a culture of continuous improvement that has the potential to
impact all aspects of system operation. The findings of the self-assessment help to support
implementation of operational changes that can improve water quality and help utilities maintain
reliable, consistent treatment under a variety of conditions.
Established in 2010, the distribution system optimization program has the potential to significantly
impact distribution system operations and performance. Key optimization parameters for the program
include disinfectant residual, pressure management, and main breaks, and 19 additional performance
improvement variables are evaluated in the self-assessment process, providing a system-specific
learning and communications mechanism for participating utilities.
This presentation will provide attendees with an overview of the program, share lessons learned and
success stories from participating utilities, and present summaries of water quality data from utilities,
demonstrating the program effectiveness.