Water Management

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Roundtable Discusses a Potential Certification Program for Freshwater Ecosystem Management [5/20/07]

The Nature Conservancy convened a roundtable in October 2006 to discuss the idea of creating a certification program for drinking water utilities based on their contributions to freshwater ecosystem protection and management. Over 50 participants representing the drinking water community, state and local governments, and environmental groups met for two days to review potential incentives and barriers to such a standards-based certification program. The roundtable concluded with the decision to conduct a feasibility assessment to examine an array of approaches to promote freshwater ecosystem sustainability, including but not limited to certification program. Click here for the summary of the roundtable discussion.

Finalization of ISO's Water Management Standards Imminent [01/25/07]

ISO's Technical Committee on water management (TC 224) has reached the final stages of its standards development process. The committee is currently preparing the final versions (called Final Draft International Standards - FDIS) of its three standards: ISO 24510 - Service to users; ISO 24511 - Management of wastewater utilities; and ISO 24512 - Management of drinking water utilities.

According to ISO rules, FDISs are subject to an up-down vote by ISO members, without the possibility of making further edits or amendments. Prior to reaching the FDIS stage, the committee concluded a five-month voting period ending in September 2006. All three draft standards were approved by an overwhelming majority, with Canada casting the only disapproval vote among the 30 countries participating in the ballot. The majority of the member bodies, however, also submitted comments that required further discussion at the committee's most recent plenary meeting in Punta Del Este, Uruguay at the end of November. And even though the standards were only one draft away from their final version, TC 224 experts made quite a few significant changes and edits including the title of the standards, the common introductory text for three standards, and a few key terms defined in the standards.

TC 224 also resolved to further improve the harmonization among its standards. Although the issue of harmonization has been identified since the early stages of the standards development, the DISs were still found to lack sufficient integration. The committee decided that each standard will have the other two standards as normative references, which in effect means the three must be purchased and used as a set. It is intended that water managers will further integrate their use once the standards are published.

The three Working Groups developing the standards have a tight schedule from here: by the end of January 2007 they must complete another round of drafting to incorporate the decisions made at the plenary meeting, after which the TC 224 Secretariat will finalize the FDISs for a two-month ballot by all national bodies ending in June/July 2007. Approval of the FDISs is fairly likely, and the final standards are expected to be published by the end of 2007.

Since the standards development process is nearing completion, TC 224 began discussing activities for after the publication of the standards, such as promotion of the standards and a survey or study of actual applications. In particular, TC 224 will continue working on the pilot program launched last year to develop a guide for the application of its standards in developing countries. The first pilots to test the standards were completed in Casablanca and Berrechild, Morocco in 2006 and two more are schedule for early 2007 in Kenya and Senegal. The group plans to conduct the same pilots in Latin America and Asia before deciding on the contents and type of ISO guidance produced (e.g., international standard, publicly available specification, technical report, preparation of national/regional standards based on the TC 224 standards, etc).

ISO Releases Draft International Standards on Water Management [07/31/06]

ISO's Working Group on Water Management, Technical Committee (TC) 224 released Draft International Standards (DISs) in April 2006. Three standards - ISO 24510 Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater, ISO 24511 Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater, and ISO 24512 Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater - were circulated to the ISO member countries for comments and vote. The DIS or "enquiry" stage is the first time a draft ISO standard undergoes a review and ballot by the entire ISO membership, not just the member countries participating in the Technical Committee producing it. The standards are available for review and download at INNI's Draft International Standard page. Interested organizations are encouraged to submit comments to their respective national standards bodies or the INNI Secretariat before the comments deadline of September 11, 2006. TC 224 will meet from November 30 to December 3, 2006 in Punta Del Este, Uruguay to discuss and incorporate the comments received and to prepare the Final Draft International Standards for ballot. The final standards are scheduled for publication in mid-2007.

For more information on the contents of the ISO's water standards, read Robin Simpson's article. Simpson is the Senior Policy Advisor of Consumers International and has been participating in the TC 224's standards development process. Simpson contributed this article for INNI to share his analysis.

ISO's Water Management Standards Moving Forward [3/3/2006]

Update
Technical Committee (TC) 224, the body developing ISO's water management standards, held its fifth plenary meeting in Berlin, Germany this past October. TC 224 experts reviewed and incorporated comments submitted on their three standards under development - ISO 24510, ISO 24511, and ISO 24512 - and decided to elevate their work products to the Draft International Standard (DIS) stage. Along with the language revisions, a new stand-alone chapter explaining the concept of performance indicators was added to each of the DISs, as was an annex section with 34 sample performance indicators.

The decision to circulate the documents as DISs for ballot marks a significant milestone in the standards' development, since the DIS or "enquiry" stage is the first time that a draft ISO standard will undergo a review and vote by the full ISO membership, not just the countries participating in the committee producing it. The three working groups responsible for the development of each of the drafts met separately after the Berlin plenary to finalize the DISs to ISO Central Secretariat, which will circulate the official versions by April 1 for a five-month ballot. The final standards are scheduled for publication in mid-2007.

Developing Country Matters
In addition to developing three water management standards, TC 224 has been working to promote their implementation. At its Berlin meeting, the TC decided to launch work on a "Guide for the application of ISO 24510, 24511, 24512 in developing and emerging countries." The plan is to test the standards in some developing country regions or cities and then produce the guide based on the outcomes of the pilot. The work has been assigned to TC 224's ad hoc group on developing countries. The type of ISO guidance produced (i.e. international standard, publicly available specification, technical report, etc.) is yet to be decided.

In order to increase Latin America's involvement in international standardization, the TC decided to create a Spanish Translation Task Force, and will also request the ISO Council to publish official Spanish versions of TC 224's standards. In addition, the TC decided to hold a topic session on TC 224 activities during the World Water Forum in Mexico City in March. The next TC 224 plenary meeting is going to be in Punta Del Este, Uruguay from November 29 to December 3, 2006.

Pacific Institute Reviews ISO's Development of Water Management Standards [10/17/05]

The Pacific Institute produced a paper entitled, "Developing Voluntary International Water Management Standards: A Case Study of ISO Technical Committee 224" that was published in the July 2005 edition of Water Resources IMPACT, a journal of the American Water Resources Association. The paper summarizes ISO's ongoing work on the topic and identifies issues and challenges facing the standards' drafters.

First Drafts of ISO's Water Management Standards Approved [7/21/05]

In June 2005, Committee Drafts (CD) of ISO's water management standards passed the first formal vote by ISO Technical Committee 224 participating member countries. Guidelines for the service to users (ISO 24510) was approved by 16 out of 20 countries voting, and the other two standards, Guidelines for the assessment of wastewater services and the management of utilities (ISO 24511); and Guidelines for the assessment of drinking water services and the management of utilities (ISO 24512) were also approved overwhelmingly with 19 countries voting for, and Argentina the only country casting a disapproval vote. Two liaison organizations, European Union of National Associations of Water Suppliers and Waste Water Services (EUREAU) and Consumers International also submitted their comments, which were largely supportive of the documents. (Click here for EUREAU's position statement on the Committee Drafts)

Although all three drafts were approved by the majority of the TC 224 member countries, the results of the ballot revealed that more than half of the developing countries participating in TC 224 did not cast their vote or submit comments. Further, four out of the five member countries that didn't vote on all the standards were from Africa (South Africa, Kenya, and Tunisia did not vote at all and Nigeria voted only on ISO/CD 24512), making Zimbabwe and Morocco the only African countries that fully participated in the voting process. This is especially concerning given the implications of these standards for Africa, as well as the fact that more meaningful participation by developing countries has been repeatedly recognized as important by the membership of TC 224. Several programs have been implemented by TC 224 to improve developing country involvement, such as the creation of a developing country ad hoc group, hosting of three regional fora, and capacity-building twinning arrangements between developing and developed country members.

TC 224 will discuss all comments submitted during the CD review phase at its next meeting in Berlin, Germany in October 2005

First Formal Drafts of ISO's Water Management Standards Released for Review [3/25/05]

Technical Committee (TC) 224, the body developing ISO's water management standards, recently circulated to its membership the first Committee Drafts (CD) of its standards for review, comment, and formal approval. Final preparation of the CDs took place in Valencia, Spain in late January 2005, where TC 224 experts worked to improve clarity and harmonization among the three standards: Guidelines for the service to users (ISO 24510); Guidelines for the assessment of wastewater services and the management of utilities (ISO 24511); and Guidelines for the assessment of drinking water services and the management of utilities (ISO 24512). Comments and votes from TC 224 member countries and liaison organizations are due by the June 24, 2005. Any organization interested in reviewing and commenting on the draft standards can do so by contacting its national standards body or the INNI Secretariat in advance of that deadline. TC 224, at its next meeting in Berlin, Germany in October 2005, will discuss all comments submitted during the CD review phase.

ISO's Water Committee Obtains More Feedback from Developing Countries [11/23/04]

News Update:
Technical Committee 224, the TC developing ISO's water management standards, held its 4th plenary meeting in Rabat, Morocco, September 26-29, 2004. The purpose of the meeting was twofold: 1) to receive input from two preparatory meetings organized to gather developing country input on TC 224's work, 2) to set the course for the further development of its three-part draft standard. Leading up to Rabat, one of the forums was held in August 2004 in Puerto Rico, and another in Marrakech immediately prior to the Rabat meeting. TC 224's Working Groups (WGs) did not meet in Rabat, but will convene again in January 2005 to implement the TC's overall guidance vis-à-vis harmonization and structure of the three parts of the standard, to incorporate comments submitted by the TC's membership during an "informal consultation," and to consider the input produced during the two developing country forums. Subsequent to the January WG meetings, a newly created editing group within TC 224 will review the drafts produced to ensure consistency in their terminology and style. The editing group will then prepare the first Committee Draft (CD) to be circulated to member bodies by March 2005 for comment.

The central focus of the Rabat plenary was how best to structure, harmonize, and move forward with development of the three-part standard. Below are the major decisions taken by the TC during the meeting:

· Consensus was reached that more consistency is needed between the three parts of the standard, and in particular between the parts addressing water supply services (WG3) and wastewater services (WG4). In order to achieve improved alignment in structure, content, and level of detail, WG3 and WG4 will hold their first joint meeting in January 2005.
· Titles of the WG3 and WG4 documents were revised to be more aligned:
o Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater - Guidelines for the management and assessment of drinking water services (WG3)
o Service activities relating to drinking water and wastewater - Guidelines for the management and assessment of wastewater services (WG4)
· The group decided to keep separate documents for the drinking water and wastewater parts of the standard, following input from developing country members that the water and wastewater service providers in their countries are separate entities.
· The TC agreed the standard should include stand-alone/on-site drinking water and wastewater systems and that revisions should be made in the three parts accordingly.
· A developing countries ad hoc group was created to ensure the applicability of the standard in developing regions of the world. The group has been mandated to: 1) propose adaptations for the definitions and Performance Indicators chosen by the different WGs so that they fit with the situation in developing countries, 2) study the development of a user's guide for the developing countries, and 3) list and define the different kinds of water supply and wastewater services in developing countries and to link them to types of services described in the WGs drafts. The TC 224 P-membership, O-membership, and liaison organizations have been asked to propose experts for this group.
· The TC supported the suggestion of the developing countries to undertake a test of the parts of the draft standard in some cities from developing countries in conjunction with associations of professionals and local authorities, before the elevating the standard to the Draft International Standard (DIS) level (Currently scheduled for June 2006).
· It was agreed the TC 224 chairman and secretary will contact the multilateral organizations, such as the World Health Organization and World Bank, to seek better consistency of TC 224's standard with their recommendations, directives, and tools.
· The TC will ask the ISO Council to allow developing country representatives who have an interest in TC 224's work (but who are from a country not officially a member of the TC) to attend meetings. These individuals would attend TC 224 meetings as observers on their own, not as part of another P-member, O-member, or liaison organization's delegation.

The next TC 224 plenary meeting will be held from October 18-21 in Berlin, Germany, to examine comments received on the CD. The planned date for the publication of the final standard is now set for July 2007.

Analysis:
The Rabat meeting marked a big step forward in terms of attempting to improve developing country participation and to ensure global relevance of the standard. More decisions were taken reflecting input from the less developed parts of the world than any previous TC 224 meeting. It is a positive sign that TC 224 has started to recognize the importance of developing country involvement for this standard and has taken steps to address the problem of developing country under representation. We hope ISO will grant TC 224 the authority it requests to make operational changes that will improve the quantity and quality of developing country involvement.

Another accomplishment of this meeting was that the group finally managed to resolve the longstanding lack of alignment/harmonization between the three parts of draft standard. This issue had been slowing the development process and causing a serious concern that the standard would not meet the ISO deadlines for production. Based on the consensus agreements reached at this meeting, however, it is likely the process will start to move forward at a more efficient pace.

Meeting Report of ISO Water Committee, April 2004, Korea [8/19/04]

The Technical Committee (TC) developing ISO's water management standards met most recently in Daejeon, Korea from April 13-16, 2004. During the course of the Daejeon meetings, Working Groups 2 and 4 finalized their respective Working Drafts (WDs), while WG 3 needed to make further revisions to their draft subsequent to the face-to-face meetings. The groups submitted their WDs to the committee Secretariat (France) in mid-May 2004. The Secretariat then edited these disparate drafts to conform to ISO formatting requirements, and then distributed them for informal review to the full TC membership in June 2004. The results of the informal consultation will be sent out to the members prior to the next TC 224 plenary meeting in Rabat, Morocco, on September 27-29, 2004. At the September TC meeting, member countries will assess the comments received from the various reviewers and decide whether to elevate the revised WDs to Committee Drafts (CDs), or to make more extensive changes and re-circulate them for formal ballot and comment as WDs.

Some of the participants at the Korea meeting have suggested that, by completing the Working Drafts, the WGs have completed their tasks, and further revisions to the drafts should be completed either at the TC level, or by new groups charged with that task. These and other questions are scheduled to be addressed in Morocco as well.

Developing world country participation at the TC increased slightly relative to previous meetings, with representatives from Argentina, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa in attendance. Again, Argentina was the only Latin American country represented. Consumer and environmental interests continue to be poorly represented at TC 224. Japan and France both sent very large delegations.

The inclusion of the concepts of right to water and right to sanitation in the standard was further discussed in WG 2 (click here for the WG 2 meeting minutes). Since the group couldn't reach the consensus during the last meeting in Valencia, it decided to present the text to the TC 224 Secretariat for consultation. The Secretariat's response was that the language was not considered appropriate in the main body of an International Standard. During the Korea meeting, however, WG 2 experts found alternative wording that seemed to be in compliance with ISO recommendations that language pertaining to "human rights" not be included in a normative section of the standard. In addition to the language it developed in Korea, WG2 suggested that the broader concept of a human right to water could be included in the introduction and/or in an annex to the standard.

WG 3 discussions included a long debate over whether the draft should address the assessment of management, or just the output of the service, a return to the 'black box' discussion raised in Paris a year earlier. Some of the French delegates (though not all) supported such an assessment, characterizing it as fundamental to the service itself. Others claimed that it represented a new topic and was not appropriate. The Bonn Charter, to be released shortly, will suggest that services be assessed holistically, and not simply on the basis of results. WG 3 also wrestled with developing a universal standard that could apply to very different water delivery contexts, ranging from fully-treated urban water systems, to intermittent rural delivery systems that expect the user to treat water to potable standards, as needed. There was also debate about the document's level of detail.

Fundamental differences between the drafts of WGs 3 and 4 have not been resolved. The TC Secretary characterized WG 4's draft as akin to a simple checklist, while the WG 3 draft contains very detailed text in most guidance chapters. However, instead of providing its own guidance on how to resolve these differences, the Secretariat has deferred to TC members and outside reviewers via the informal consultation process.

Several of the European representatives remain concerned that the standard, and particularly any Performance Indicators (PIs) included within the standard, will be used for assessment by ignorant politicians and regulators, without an understanding of the different contexts and underlying assumptions that may affect PIs. Additionally, they have expressed concern that the guidance document will become a de facto international standard for benchmarking, adding an additional regulatory burden on service providers. Thus, they have strived to minimize the inclusion of PIs in the drafts documents.

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Report on September 2003 Plenary Meeting of ISO Water Committee [11/24/03]

ISO Technical Committee 224, "Standardization of service activities relating to drinking water supply and sewerage," which first met in Paris in September, 2002, and again in March, 2003, held its most recent meeting in Ottawa, Canada in September of this year. The full TC, led by the newly elected chairman Jean Luc Redaud, met on September 22nd and 25th, whereas the TC's four Working Groups (WGs) ("Terminology," "Service to the Consumers," "Drinking Water," and "Wastewater Systems," respectively) met individually and collectively in the interim.

Several major issues were deliberated at the TC meeting, including:

· Whether WGs 2-4 should each develop individual standards, or merge them in some way;
· The degree to which each WG's Working Drafts should be harmonized;
· The specificity or depth of detail of the standard(s), as well as the degree to which it/they will include prescriptive requirements, and;
· Whether and to what extent performance indicators should be included.

Austria, Germany, Holland, and to a lesser extent Denmark, Korea, Malaysia, and Norway, argued for weaker 'informative' guidelines, and opposed the inclusion of Performance Indicators (PIs) within the standard(s). (In fact, a number of these countries proposed to eliminate WG2 entirely, but the TC chair refused, maintaining that the group had been created by the TC's business plan, which was approved by the TC only a year earlier.) Germany pushed to keep the main body of the water supply part of the standard to a minimum, while putting most items in an informative annex. The TC chair and secretary, however, stated that the document is considered by ISO a 'standard,' and therefore, cannot be titled a 'guideline.' France sought a stronger 'normative' standard, though not one including PIs pertinent to consumers. Portugal and Spain strongly advocated including a broad range of PIs within the standard, reflecting (and building upon) the indicators work of the International Water Association. Canada, UK, and US all seemed to support inclusion of at least some PIs, but did not weigh in the discussion with a formal (or consistent) position.

WG4's conveners claimed at the onset of the week that they had completed their WD, but after a joint WG3-WG4 meeting was held to harmonize the organization of their WDs, WG4 realized that its draft need additional work. It was decided that the two WGs should continue with separate drafts, at least until both have completed their Working Drafts, before they start the discussion on how to harmonize the two documents. This ongoing discussion on whether to merge them into one standard is yet to be resolved.

Participation at the Ottawa meeting was broader than the WG meetings in Paris in March 2003. In addition to extensive participation from European countries, Japan, Korea and Canada, the developing countries in attendance were Argentina, Malaysia, Malawi, Morocco, and Nigeria. The TC chair recommended that each industrialized country sponsor the participation of a developing country, to increase such participation in the meetings. France sponsored Morocco's delegates to this meeting. Morocco suggested that a more appropriate distinction for standardization purposes would be rural drinking water and sewage systems versus their urban counterparts, rather than developed versus developing world.

The review of resolutions at the TC's closing plenary went very quickly, as the TC quickly adopted non-contentious resolutions, and there seemed to be little appetite to resolve the more contentious issues facing the committee. The next meeting of TC224's WGs will be in Korea in April 2004. In preparation for their meetings, WGs 2-4 are expected to submit final Working Drafts to the technical committee by March 2004. The next meeting of the full committee is scheduled for September 2004 in Morocco.

Analysis
The direction of this standard(s) remains in doubt, as several northern European countries continue to resist what they perceive to be an additional layer of regulation. France, which suggested the standardization activity, is home to two of the world's largest private purveyors of drinking and sewage water services. Although the French delegation is not unanimous, concern remains among some participants that France's objective is to facilitate privatization of public systems in other countries. Consumer and environmental interests continue to be poorly represented within TC 224.

Potentially, a TC 224 standard could offer consumers useful information, in the form of indicators of water service delivery, such as: percentage of persons with drinking and sewage services in any given area; and number of complaints received and resolved by a provider. However, the broad opposition to the inclusion of meaningful performance indicators, combined with the efforts to eliminate WG2, suggests that TC 224 could end up offering limited benefit to consumer and environmental advocates. WG4's preliminary draft presented to the TC demonstrates that the standard, at least as envisioned by some countries, could be quite general and offer little substance.

For information on how to obtain TC 224 Working Drafts, contact the INNI Secretariat at inni @ pacinst.org

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Current Issues within TC 224 [8/5/03]

- whether to attach any quantitative value to the PIs developed in the standards;
-whether to include the general methodology for the establishment and selection of PIs as an annex in the standards;
-whether to include a small list of important PIs and classify them in two or three levels;
-and/or to make reference to PIs developed by national, international and regional organizations.

There has also been considerable discussion as to whether the PI provisions should be normative or informative.

Identification of Stakeholders
Six potential stakeholder groups were suggested during the last meeting of Working Group 2 - "Service to the Consumers":

- end-user or user or consumer
- local authorities or relevant authorities or responsible bodies
- regulator or public authority
- environment
- operator or supplier
- employees or staff

Consensus has not been reached among WG2 members on who should be identified as stakeholders. In addition, it has been suggested that WG2 clarify the functions of different stakeholders.

The right to water and sanitation
There was a discussion in the March 2003 WG meetings about whether to include the issue of the right to access to water and sanitation in the standards. Some in TC 224 propose to deal with the issue in the standard, and/or to include the expression of coverage or availability, in so far as this is one of the users' essential needs. Others argue that the inclusion of the issue or such clause would overlap with the regulations of each country. It was decided to further evaluate this at the Technical Committee level at the next plenary meeting, which will be held September 22-25 in Ottawa, Canada.

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EUREAU Submits Position Paper on ISO/TC 224 [8/5/03]

On June 17th, EUREAU, which is the Union of National Associations of Water Suppliers and Waste Water services from the EU and European Free Trade Association countries, submitted a position paper regarding the work of ISO/TC 224. EUREAU was invited to contribute to the standard development process in TC 224 as an A Liaison member.

The position paper states two key expectations for the new standard; 1) it should provide clear advantages to both water utilities and their customers; 2) it must emphasize the importance of transparency in the relation between water industries (whether private or public) and their clients. The paper then lists several issues EUREAU recommends TC 224 take into account:

1) Costs and benefits of standardization should be balanced, i.e., the cost of standardization shouldn't be too high.
2) The standards should clearly define the relative responsibilities of the different organizations in water and wastewater services.
3) The standards should have sufficient flexibility to reflect the widely differing nature of water services and local priorities for improvement.
4) The current approach -- to consolidate existing standards from various regions and countries -- will not be successful within a reasonable timeframe. It recommends that TC 224 limit its work to essential service requirements that could be met by every country.
5) The standards should not impose on companies any particular mandated form of organization.
6) Various performance indicators that are tailored and applied in each country and region already exist and TC 224 should not develop another set. It should focus on guidelines and performance criteria rather than quantitative performance indicators.

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Revised Draft Business Plan Released [4/29/03]

WG1: Define terms for drinking water supply and wastewater service activities, including different technical terms based on regional use and application, when those terms are common to several work items or upon request from another WG. The last clause was added to limit the scope of this WG to work only on those terms that are used by more than one WG. Each WG (2-4) will be responsible for defining the terms within its field.

WG2: Specify the characteristics of the elements of service activities relating to drinking water supply and wastewater systems, in order to meet customers' expectations. Define a language common to the different stakeholders and propose a selection of quality criteria that will be applicable to the service expected by the customer. For each of the criteria, define the indicators and tools used to measure performance, but do not set any target value or performance thresholds.

WG3: Standardization of a framework for the definition and measurement of service activities relating to drinking water supply systems. The standardization includes: the definition of a language common to the different stakeholders, the definition of the characteristics of drinking water services, a list of requirements to fulfill for the management of a drinking water supply system, service quality criteria and a related system of performance indicators, without setting any target values or thresholds.

WG4: Standardization of a framework for the definition and measurement of service activities relating to wastewater systems. The standardization includes: the definition of a language common to the different stakeholders, the definition of the characteristics of the elements of the service according to the consumers expectations, a list of requirements to fulfill for the management of a wastewater system, service quality criteria and a related system of performance indicators, without setting any target values or thresholds.

Terms of reference for WGs 2-4 are more detailed than the previous draft, including the list of items for standardization. The clause "without setting any target values or thresholds" was added to ensure that the WGs focus on standardization of a framework, and not performance levels.

Target dates for all three projects were extended one year for DIS (Draft International Standard) and are now July 1st of 2005, and 9 months for FDIS (Final Draft for International Standard), which is expected to be issued on April 1st, 2006. The publication target date remains July 1st, 2006.

Next plenary meeting will be held in Toronto in September, 2003.

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Meeting of Ad Hoc Group within WG4 - Wastewater Systems [4/29/03]

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Membership of TC 224 and Experts Participating in WGs [4/29/03]

The disproportional representation in TC 224 membership was mentioned in the 1st newsletter. European countries, Canada, and the U.S. comprise two-thirds of the 21 voting members. Africa (Morocco and South Africa), Latin America (Argentina and Mexico) and Asia (Japan, Korea, Malaysia) have only seven members total, even though most of the new water service work will be pursued in these regions.

WG1- no developing country expert (3 French, 1 Canadian, 1 US, 1 Japanese)
WG2 - only 1 developing county expert (Argentina), out of 25 experts (16 European, 3 North American, 5 Asian)

WG3 - only 1 developing country expert (Argentina), out of 27 experts (15 European, 5 North American, 6 Asian)

WG4 - only 1 developing country expert (Argentina), out of 24 experts (13 European, 3 North American, 7 Asian)

NOTE: Argentina did not send a representative to the WG 1-4 meetings held in Paris in March 2003.

In terms of institutional expertise, a majority of the seed documents are European. In addition to the IWA Manual, two French standards, a German standard, and the European standard, Japan submitted a draft of Performance Indicators made of the total of 150 indicators divided into 6 categories: Environmental, Personnel, Physical, Operational, Quality of Service, and Financial. These categories correspond to IWA Manual "Performance Indicators for Wastewater Services".

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Report on March 2003 WG Meetings, Paris [4/29/03]

Canada stated that WG2 should limit itself to user concerns that are not under the auspices of regulators, and should not address rights to water and/or sanitation. Other members challenged this statement, until France suggested that the TC plenary should address this point in September. Austria stated that WGs 3 & 4 will address all needs, so WG2 would not be needed (this position was not endorsed). The WG3 convener noted that each WG will produce a complete working draft, that may stand alone or may be merged with the others; potentially, there may be up to three separate standards (WG1 - terminology - would be expected to be included within the other WG drafts, if that were the case). WGs 3&4 appear to be taking different approaches, with WG4 referencing performance standards from other documents.

WG2 changed its name from "Service to Consumers" to "Service to Users" because it was deemed that 'users' is broader, for example, encompassing uncharged uses, such as firefighting. More than 300 potential performance indicators have already been submitted, so it was decided to focus on concepts, rather than indicators. France stated that quality is more important than benchmarking, so standards should focus on defining improvements in service. France and Japan claimed that consumers are only interested in service provision, not internal operation. However, consumer associations want more transparency. France claims that infrastructure maintenance need not be subject to public scrutiny, though others noted that maintenance operations (such as closing streets to repair pipes) could impact the public. The French standard's definition of customer service - "a natural person or corporate body using the water supply or sewerage services" was expanded to "a person, corporate or public body using the water supply or wastewater service." Despite the consumer focus of this WG, only one consumer organization (a French consumer group) submitted comments to WG2. On a positive side, WG2 noted that a right to water should be included as a customer expectation.

Malaysia was the only developing country represented at WG3. WG3 discussions focused on the inclusion of "cost" or "price" within the standard, and whether or not to preserve a "black box" around internal operations. France suggested that the output of service was more important than the organization of function, and that objectives should include environmental protections, quality of service and product, and cost recovery. No consensus was reached on the objective for the standard, as some members focused on output and others on suppliers' internal organization. The discussion of system outputs included considerable overlap with the scope of WG2. Several members preferred the German seed document over the Japanese, but this was not unanimous. WG3 agreed upon the need to define and clarify public and private ownership/ operation/ responsibilities. WG3 discussed protection of the environment, including pollution control, consumption of resources, and source protection (e.g., watershed protection, etc).

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ISO and Water Management Standardization [10/30/02]

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The Creation of ISO/TC 224 [10/30/02]

"there are four major challenges facing the water supply and sanitation sectors in the years to come:

1) Keeping pace with a net population growth of more than a billion people over the next 15 years;
2) Closing the coverage and service gap, with emphasis on sanitation, which lags considerably behind water supply;
3) Ensuring sustainability of existing and new services, and;
4) Improving the quality of services."

The business plan also noted that there is a greater gap in sanitation coverage than in drinking water coverage. In order to halve the unserved population by 2015, the number of people served by a water supplier must increase by 1.6 billion (32%), and those with access to sanitation must increase by 2.2 billion (59%). Much of this must be concentrated in the rapidly growing urban areas. Because the greatest numbers of unserved are in Asia, the business plan proposes that much of this work must also focus on Asia. The business plan states, "Current progress is inadequate to meet the targets. Something will have to change dramatically if the targets are to be met."

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Report from the First Plenary Meeting of TC 224, September 2002 [10/30/02]

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Resources and Links

ISO Documents

Description of ISO's Water Standard "ISO/TC 224 “Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems - Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators" (2005)

Conclusion of the Latin American Forum held in Puerto Rico, August 2004 (2004)

Conclusions of the European Water Forum held in Belgium in July 2004 (2004)

Report of the African forum on ISO/TC 224 held September 22, 2004 (2004)

Guidelines for the service to users (ISO 24510) Committee Draft (2005)

Guidelines for the assessment of wastewater services and the management of utilities (ISO 24511) Committee Draft (2005)

Guidelines for the assessment of drinking water services and the management of utilities (ISO 24512) Committee Draft (2005)

TC224 WG2 (Service to Users) Working Draft 2 (2004)

TC224 WG3 (Management of Drinking Water Systems) Working Draft 2 (2004)

TC224 WG4 (Management of Wastewater Systems) Working Draft 2 (2004)

TC 224 WG 2 (Service to Users) Working Draft (2003)

TC224 WG4 (Management of Wastewater System (2003)

Minutes of the TC 224 Meeting 22-24 September 2003, Ottawa (2003)

Minutes of the Working Group 2 Meeting: 25-28th March 2003, Paris (2003)

ISO/TC224 Business Plan (Draft #4) -Service activities relating to drinking water supply and sewerage (2003)

ISO/TC224 Business Plan (Draft #3) -Service activities relating to drinking water supply and sewerage (2002)

Proposal for a New Field of Technical Activity in Standardization of Service Activities Relating to Drinking Water Supply and Sewerage (2001)

ISO/TC 224 Business Plan (Draft #1)-Service activities relating to drinking water supply and sewerage (2002)

Related Articles
AIDIS - Inter-American Association on Sanitary and Environmental Engineering) position paper to ISO/TC 224 (2004)

Draft Proposal for a Common PI Framework and Selection Criteria for ISO TC 224 (2003)

EUREAU position paper regarding the ISO/TC 224 project “Service standards relating to drinking water supply and sewerage” (2003)

New ISO Technical Committee on Drinking Water (2001)

Public Citizen’s Harmonization Project's Response to the Creation of New Standards (2001)

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