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[Presentation of the Guide for the integration of self-monitoring into the statutory program for drinking water quality control]

Présentation du Guide relatif à la prise en compte de la surveillance dans le cadre du contrôle sanitaire des eaux destinées à la consommation humaine

Abstract : French legislation includes different measures to improve the safety of water supply in public networks. Among these, there are new conditions for the health monitoring of water, and especially the duty for water suppliers to implement a monitoring program, taking into account identified hazards as well as a quality management system, since the substitution of the statutory health control analyses by the water suppliers' ones is requested. The implementation of these measures brings about a profound change for the monitoring programs carried out by water suppliers and by local health authorities, through methods inspired, to a large extent, by the risks analysis and quality management approaches. Thereby, the Guide for the integration of self-monitoring into the statutory program for drinking water quality control, published by the Ministry of Health in 2007, was drawn up by a national working group, mainly made up of engineers from local and regional health authorities. It aims at providing methodological and operational tools to implement legal provisions, dealing with the integration of water monitoring programs developed by water suppliers into the statutory monitoring program. This guide is first intended for local public health authorities, who insure the statutory water controls, but also represents a precious source of information for water suppliers interested in this approach and concerned with the continuous improvement of water safety. The guide is indeed composed of two parts. The first part reminds us of legal provisions, as well as quality management systems and hazards analysis and management principles in water supply systems. The second part provides some guidelines for the constitution of the requested report about water suppliers monitoring program, and also for the examination of this report by local health authorities. The integration of self-monitoring programs into the statutory program for water quality control is in line with a global approach for the improvement of drinking water quality. Besides, this legal evolution also contributes to the strengthening of drinking water safety, required by the "Water Safety Plan" approach developed by the World Health Organization in its last recommendations (2004), and whose principles might be introduced into the next European drinking water directive