ISO: Standards Aim to Improve Quality of Water Services to Consumers - ISO 24510, 24511, 24512

January 13, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

These international standards are intended to help water authorities and their operators achieve a level of quality that meets user expectations and the principles of sustainable development, ISO said.

The new standards include:

• ISO 24510 - Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services - Guidelines for the assessment and for the improvement of the service to users.

  This service-oriented standard addresses components of the service relating to users, core service objectives, guidelines for satisfying user needs and expectations, assessment criteria for service to users in accordance with the guidelines provided and examples of indicators linked to the assessment criteria that can be used for assessing service performance.

• ISO 24511 - Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services - Guidelines for the management of wastewater utilities and for the assessment of wastewater services, and ISO 24512 - Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services - Guidelines for the management of drinking water utilities and for the assessment of drinking water services.

  These management-oriented standards discuss the physical/infrastructural and managerial/institutional components of water utilities, core objectives for water utilities, water utility management guidelines, guidelines for the assessment of the water services with service assessment criteria related to the objectives and performance indicators linked to these criteria.

According to ISO, the objectives of these international standards are to provide stakeholders with:

• Guidelines for assessing and improving the service to users.
• Guidance for managing water utilities.
• Tools for facilitating dialogue about functions and tasks that fall within the scope of water utilities.

The standards also include methods and tools to define objectives and specifications and assess and monitor performance for possible benchmarking among water utilities.

"These ISO standards will play a primary role in promoting access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation through improved governance at all levels," said Alan Bryden, ISO secretary-general.

"Their publication is a first step toward responding to the United Nations' concern in recognizing that access to water is an essential human right. The UN has set ambitious goals to increase access to drinking water and wastewater services, particularly in developing countries," Bryden said.

ISO said the implementation of the standards will be monitored to provide feedback for further improvement.

Source: International Organization for Standardization (ISO).