Public HealthPH2BPeriodically develop publicly available regulatory updates and water quality compliance reports

In Peru, the Regulation on the Quality of Water for Human Consumption, Supreme Decree No. 031-2010-SA, among other aspects, seeks to regulate the dissemination and access to information on the quality of water for human consumption by establishing the right to this information as a regulatory guideline, thereby allowing the user to access water quality information free of charge and in a timely fashion. To this end, the provider is obliged to provide the Health Authority and the supervisory body with affidavits containing all the information related to water quality monitoring. Accordingly, the Health Authority’s functions include consolidating and publishing sanitary monitoring information on water for human consumption throughout the country, with the obligation to regulate, organize and administrate the National Information System on sanitary monitoring of water for human consumption.

In Mexico, the Water Law for the State of Jalisco, which was issued with, among other aims, that of establishing the general bases for the provision of drinking water, drainage, sewerage, treatment and final disposal of wastewater, establishes a State Water Information System as a public instrument of citizen access pursuant to the terms set forth in the State of Jalisco Transparency and Public Information Law and the Federal Law on Transparency and Access to Public Government Information. This system gathers the public information related to water in the State of Jalisco, including drinking water and sanitation system water, and stipulates that the information in the State information system shall be publicly available, allowing any interested party to access it.

In Uruguay, the State Sanitary Works provider (OSE) allows online access to relevant data on drinking water quality based on the analyses conducted by the OSE Integrated Laboratory Management System (SIGLA). These are organized quarterly by Department and District and detail the number of samples analyzed, the parameters analyzed, regulatory reference points and the percentage of samples that comply with regulatory requirements.

In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health publishes annual reports on drinking-water quality and compliance, highlighting the significance of government reforms in this important area of public health.

The release of its Annual Report on Drinking-water Quality 2017-18, for example, includes information on individual supplies, providing a better overall picture of water quality and associated risks.

It reinforces key recommendations from an inquiry which followed the 2016 Havelock North outbreak of gastroenteritis in which more than 5000 people became ill. The inquiry found a widespread systemic failure of drinking-water suppliers.

With safe drinking-water a government priority, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for the Environment, and the Department of Internal Affairs have continued to push through improvements, including implementation of the inquiry’s 51 recommendations.

The resulting report contains information on drinking-water quality for all registered, networked supplies serving populations of more than 100 people from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, covering 3,839,000 people. Following a recommendation from the inquiry, the format has changed to improve clarity and accessibility, with non-compliance being highlighted.

In the UK, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) publishes publicly available quarterly and annual reports which assess drinking water quality at a national level from the perspective of the DWI Chief Inspector.

The reports cover water quality testing and results, public confidence in drinking water, events, and technical audit activities. They also contain a summary of all results of the water companies regulatory sampling programme, and a list of all the cautions and prosecutions carried out by DWI.