The current revision of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality aims to supplement drinking-water "product control" with risk assessment and quality management strategies focussing on "process control". This approach is called "Water Safety Plan". It includes elements of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points), widely and successfully used in food industry.

In some countries this new development is already being implemented in the drinking-water supply chain from catchment to consumer, both in regulatory frameworks and upon initiative of individual water suppliers. Sector discussion of these concepts and of experiences with their implementation is needed.

The international conference in Berlin aims to promote the understanding of currently available approaches to risk management, particularly of approaches using elements of HACCP. A further aim is the exchange of current experience with this approach in relation to other quality management systems applied to secure drinking-water safety. From presentations given by experts selected among practitioners in water supply and public health you will learn about:
	Drinking-water targets for public health
	Water Safety Plans: the WHO approach
	Water suppliers' experience with HACCP principles in catchments, in treatment and in distribution
	Application of Water Safety Plans to small and medium-sized supplies
	Integrating HACCP-principles into current quality management systems in drinking-water
	Applicability of Water Safety Plans for managing chemical risks
	Perspectives of regulation and surveillance authorities

Your experience and your assessment of these approaches is in demand. Thus, extended "Coffee Workshops" for discussion in smaller working groups including the speakers will take place daily. Participants are invited to contribute their experiences with short (3-5 minute) presentations as well as to discuss their judgement of these developments, particularly with respect to their relevance and applicability in the settings represented by the participants. The feed-back and the exchange of ideas developed in these Coffee Workshops will be recorded by rapporteurs and presented at the concluding plenary discussion.

Poster presentations are welcome (see registration form)

Participants will receive a free copy of the WHO document on Water Safety Plans.

Conference languages will be English and German. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

The conference is being organized by
Federal Environmental Agency
WHO Collaborating Centre for Drinking-water Hygiene:
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Müller-Wegener
Dr. Ingrid Chorus
Oliver Schmoll
Michael Frobel