Launching a Scorecard to Monitor Water Quality at the Station Level in Ghana

Safe Water Network's teams in the US and Ghana extensively reviewed the national framework as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality 2, then engaged senior scientists at Ghana’s leading drinking water laboratory, the Water Research Institute (WRI) of the Center for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), to prioritize the possible list of parameters to. [...] 3 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 LAUNCHING A SCORECARD TO MONITOR WATER QUALIT Y AT THE STATION LEVEL IN GHANA SMALL, DECENTRALIZED SUPPLIES PRESENT UNIQUE CHALLENGES FOR QUALITY MONITORING The Government of Ghana in its framework recognizes the challenges associated with small, decentralized systems, and provides this guidance: In general, drinking water quality monitoring of small water supplies should. [...] The recommendation to collect…samples needs to be balanced against the logistics of collecting, preserving and transporting the samples, the risk profile for the supply, and the risk mitigation processes that are operating on the supply. [...] In full understanding of and respect for the health risks associated with the parameters listed in the national framework, our research has shown that certain parameters are not typically present in areas within which the Safe Water Network operates, and therefore testing for the entire range of parameters listed in the national framework is not necessary nor prudent. [...] Sustained provision of safe drinking water services requires a combined diligence to water quality control (typically performed on-site at the water station and focused on control of water processing), water quality assurance (typically performed less frequently and remotely by a third-party entity), and water quality auditing/issue resolution (performed as spot checks of quality or in response to.