National Norms and Standards relating to Environmental Health

c) Documents outlining prevention, surveillance and control of public health risks onboard should beavailable.SECTION 5:MONITORING OF WATER QUALITY ON BOARD SHIPImproperly managed water is an established route for infectious disease transmission on ships. Theimportance of water was illustrated in the review of more than 100 outbreaks associated with shipsundertaken by Rooney et al. (2004), in which one fifth were attributed to a waterborne route. Mostwaterborne outbreaks of disease on ships involve ingestion of water contaminated with pathogensderived from human or other animal excreta. Illnesses due to chemical poisoning of water have alsooccurred on ships, although chemical incidents are much less commonly reported than microbial ones.Even if the water at the port is safe, this does not ensure that it will remain safe during the transfer andstorage activities that follow.1. Ships must be loaded with potable water obtained only from water sources and suppliers that providepotable water and that conforms to SANS 241 in terms of chemical, microbial, physical andradiological quality, and must conform to the specifications as per WHO Guide to Ship Sanitation andthe Handbook for Inspection of Ships and Issuance of Ship Sanitation Certificates;2. Water transported to the ship must comply with the specifications of the SANS 241 with regards to itschemical, microbiological and physical quality.3. Water provided on board an aircraft must take into consideration the number of travelers and theintended use (i.e. preparation of beverages, hand washing, onboard showering facilities, cleaning ofutensils and work areas etc.);4. Tanks used for storing water must be kept clean and protected against contamination;5. Water monitoring /sampling must be well documented and records to be kept.6. A water supply delivered to ports must be suitable for distribution and consumption without furthertreatment as necessary to maintain water quality in the distribution system.7. Potable water in the ship, port and distribution system must comply with the requirements as outlinedin the WHO. Guide to ship sanitation, 3 rd edition and as set out in the SANS 241.8. Ships should have risk management plans in place. Each entity for the ship water supply; shore waterdistribution system; transfer and delivery system and ship water system should prepare andimplement a risk management plan for that part of the process.9. PHO must test drinking water supply to the ships and the ports regularly for fitness of humanconsumption both on an operational level and on compliance level.10. PHOs should also develop and implement Water Quality Monitoring Programmes for ship and portwater.11. WQMP should be implemented for compliance monitoring and audit sampling purposes. The saidprogrammes should highlight the “objectives” for the sampling, location “where” to sample andassess the deteminands “what” to be assessed, and the frequency “how often” to sample, for thepurpose of monitoring of all water from catchment to consumer which has the potential to impacthuman health following use.12. PHOs should only conduct compliance monitoring from pre-determined representative samplingpoints and at the user points as outlined in the WQMPs.13. PHOs should monitor water supply, in accordance to deliberate water quality monitoring programmesfor the purpose of quality assurance and to satisfy a quest to ensure optimum public health.14. PHOs should ensure that the WQMP is strictly followed and implemented; hence proper water qualitymonitoring records should be kept at all times.15. PHOs should only use the SANAS 17025:2005 accredited laboratories or Department of WaterAffairs (DWA)-approved laboratories per method of analysis for analysis of samples, to ensurecredible results.16. PHOs acquaint themselves with and have an understanding of the ship drinking-water supply andtransfer chain to be able to illustrate the points at which the water can become contaminated en routeto the taps on board.17. Regular monitoring must be done for each parameter to ensure maintenance of safe water quality18. The operational limits, monitoring of water quality and instituting of corrective action where requiredfor the water in the distribution system must be in accordance with the requirements as specified inWHO. Guide to ship sanitation.DOH. Norms and standards for environmental health in South Africa Feb 2013 87