Overview
ISO/TS 24520:2017 - Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems - Crisis management - Good practice for technical aspects - provides practical guidance to water utilities on the technical elements of crisis management. Applicable to all water utilities (public or private, any size), the technical specification helps organisations review and improve their preparedness, response and recovery activities for disruptions affecting drinking water and wastewater services. ISO/TS 24520:2017 is intended as a toolkit for utilities and complements other guidance such as ISO 24518.
Key topics
This technical specification addresses the principal technical topics that underpin effective crisis management for water services:
- Crisis management phases: preparedness, response and recovery to normal operation.
- Preparedness: establishing context, organizational commitment, risk assessment, procedures and plans, resources, training and exercises, and documentation.
- Response: situation ascertainment and assessment, decision making, implementation, supervision and risk assessment during a crisis.
- Recovery: surveying damage, restoration alternatives, recovery priorities, repair planning, verification and restoring drinking water and wastewater services.
- Communications and cooperation: internal crisis team communications, engagement with users, stakeholders and relevant authorities, and public information to prevent panic and build trust.
- Technical capabilities: sampling and analysis capacity, emergency facilities, personnel safety measures, alternative water supply and resource availability.
- Monitoring and continual improvement: performance measurement, training evaluation, system maintenance, audits and management review.
Practical applications
ISO/TS 24520:2017 is useful for real-world implementation and operational resilience:
- Water utility managers and technical staff can use it to assess and strengthen emergency plans, define roles for crisis management teams, and prioritize recovery actions.
- Operations and maintenance engineers can reference it for procedures around sampling, verification and restoring system quality after incidents.
- Emergency planners and risk managers can apply the guidance to develop exercises, communication strategies and coordination arrangements with public authorities.
- Small and large utilities alike can use it as a checklist to audit preparedness, resources and training needs.
Who should use it
- Water utilities (public and private)
- Utility engineers, operations managers and emergency planners
- Regulators, municipal authorities and stakeholders involved in water sector resilience
Related standards
- ISO 24518 (guidance related to emergency planning and management of drinking-water services) - consult for complementary operational detail.
Keywords: ISO/TS 24520:2017, crisis management, water utilities, drinking water supply, wastewater systems, emergency preparedness, response, recovery, risk assessment, sampling and analysis, alternative water supply.
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