WECF and its Bulgarian partners Earth Forever and EcoWorld 2007 launched in October 2012 in Bulgaria a comprehensive Water Safety Plan Compendium: “Local Action for Safe Water” for teachers, NGOs, water authorities and administration giving them background information and methodologies how to apply Water Safety Plans in small communities.

Better protection and management of drinking water sources is possible, if weaknesses and strengths are identified. For this and the identification of possible water source risks, the knowledge about water quality, pollutants, their sources and the ways of contamination is essential. A water safety plans (WSPs), considered by the WHO as the most effective means of maintaining a safe supply of drinking water to the public, can be one way to obtain and maintain proficient drinking water quality and to minimize water related diseases. In a typical small community, only few of the citizens would have knowledge on sustainable and safe management of a drinking water supply system. The aim of the presented in the publication materials is to enable leaders, teachers and NGOs to involve pupils, citizens and other stakeholders, in developing a WSP for small water supply systems; e.g. dug wells, boreholes, springs and small scale piped centralized water supply systems.

The compendium consisting of educational materials and guidance, presented in 19 modules, was created to serve community activists, teachers and NGOs who intend to develop and implement a Water Safety Plan for their community. The target groups for the WSP project in small communities are schools, local citizens and parents, youth groups and pupils in the age of 10–16 years, local authorities, institution/authorities responsible for the local water supply, water and health experts, NGOs.

The WSP compendium was realised in cooperation with WECF Bulgarian project partners — Earth Forever and EcoWorld 2007, and with the financial support of Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU). The compendium was developed and successfully tested by the village communities in the frame of the project “Drinking Water Safety Plans as a tool for environmental education for rural youth and communities in Bulgaria”, and is supposed to serve well to other smaller community in the European Region.

The WSP Compendium was announced at the fifth meeting of the Working Group on Water and Health of the Protocol on Water and Health (12–13 Oct. 2012, Geneva). The launch took place at the Bulgarian seminars “Water Safety for Small Settlements in Bulgaria” (16 Oct. 2012, Stara Zagora and 18 Oct. 2012, Sofia).

The Compendium is available in English here.