Water supply safety - Prioritization of hazards to drinking water supply

Abstract

Water utilities face numerous potential threats in their operation and in fulfilling their tasks. Staff shortages were caused by SARS-CoV-2 infections, probabilities of cyberattacks and extreme hydrologic events have increased significantly, and many areas are expected to experience multi-period droughts in the future as a result of climate change. In this paper, a tool for semi-quantitative prioritization of hazards as a fundamental work step of a risk analysis is presented and tested on a case study. As a result, priority hazards are identified and scenarios for further work steps are derived. Furthermore, a list of the minimum level of hazard analysis activities for public water utilities is proposed