ENVS 65 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Risk Management Tools, Bow Tie, Disinfectant
Document Summary
Maintaining adequate chlorine residual doesn"t guarantee that drinking water is free of risks. Many other factors need to be in place, such as storage tank maintenance, backfow protection, pressure management, main break response, and the sanitary installation of new mains. In addition, training and supervision, an adequate workforce, suffcient funding, customer responsiveness, and contractor oversight are among the many factors that need to be considered in the overall risk management process. Fortunately, risk management tools exist to help water utility managers and operators envision, prioritize, and communicate about risks in a more transparent and robust manner. Such challenges have caused water professionals to rethink the role of chlorine residual in minimizing distribution system risks. A bow tie diagram can demonstrate that monitoring and reporting a system"s chlorine residual, though important for regulatory compliance, may not be the most critical factor in minimizing or controlling risks. The idea of multiple control barriers is widely used in the water sector.
