WorkflowWater Operations

Water Safety Plan Management

Water safety plan software that checks every barrier against its own records each morning, so a missed reservoir inspection raises the hazard's risk that day, not at the audit

A living water safety plan, always audit-ready.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
target24hoursto flag a failing barrier on a critical control, not at the annual review
target100%of control measures with current verification evidence, ready for the regulator on any day
demo0.6daysmedian time to flag a failing critical barrier since the daily check went live, against 142 days when found at the March review
target1dayto an audit-ready plan pack, not about 3 weeks by hand
The problem

Why a water safety plan says Medium while a reservoir hatch is open to birds

A water safety plan names every hazardous event from catchment to tap, puts a control on it and proves the control works. In many utilities that plan is a spreadsheet and a Word document, rebuilt once a year for the audit. The proof that each control works lives elsewhere: reservoir inspection records, chlorine analysers, sample results, hatch alarms, work orders and customer complaints, each in its own system.

So a missed check stays hidden. A monthly hatch inspection is cancelled because the crew is sent to a burst main, and nothing re-raises it; the hazard's rating in the plan still says Medium. When an incident or an audit finding comes in, the incident report closes and the hazard register is not touched, although the WHO method asks for the plan to be revised after every incident. Service reservoirs are where this goes wrong: in Alamosa, Colorado, in 2008, a breached storage reservoir made about 1,300 people ill.

typical1,300peopleestimated ill after a breached storage reservoir let contamination into treated water — Alamosa, Colorado, 2008
typical6yearsat most between reviews of each supply system's risk assessment under the EU Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184
estimated3weeksto assemble the plan pack for the internal audit by hand, in the demo utility's own estimate
Where the audit pack's working days goestimated
By hand15 days
With the solution1 days
  • Collecting inspection, sampling and telemetry evidence for 86 critical controls5 → 0.1 d
  • Checking each control's status against its records3 → 0.1 d
  • Bringing incidents and audit findings into the hazard register2 → 0.2 d
  • Re-rating hazards and updating the risk table2 → 0.2 d
  • Writing the change log and the plan document2 → 0.1 d
  • Review and sign-off1 → 0.3 d

Estimated split of the about 3 weeks the team spends assembling the plan pack for the internal audit (evidence for 86 critical controls, the change log, improvement actions), in working days, by hand and with the solution.

How it works

How the plan stays live

Five agents check every barrier against its records each morning and re-rate the hazard; the water safety plan lead confirms and the Head of Drinking Water Quality signs.

What comes in
Records in5 sources · inspections, telemetry, lab results, alarms, work orders
Agents at work
Record matcherrecord → barrier
Then
Barrier watcher06:00 daily
Then
Risk re-raterlive rating
Incident analystlessons → plan
Then
Plan writerversion · audit pack
A person decides
Water safety plan leadconfirms each re-rating
What comes out
Updated risk ratings
Control verification evidence
Audit-ready plan
One case, step by step

One missed hatch inspection, from the 06:00 check to a signed plan

Kestrel Ridge service reservoir SR-07 holds 18 ML in two cells, was built in 1964 and supplies 41,200 people in Brackenfield and Oakmere. Its monthly hatch inspection was due on 12 October. On Monday 13 October 2026, here is what happens, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 0105:58

    The plan opens on a bowtie, not a spreadsheet

    Amara Osei · Water safety plan lead

    Amara owns the plan's 312 hazardous events. HZ-ST-017, microbial ingress into treated water at Kestrel Ridge, is drawn as a bowtie: four causes and nine preventive barriers on the left, three consequences and six recovery barriers on the right. The live risk is 5 · Medium, the same as plan v4.3. Barrier B1, hatch seals and locks, reads “Due 12 Oct · grace to 06:00”.

    WO-77310: “Monthly hatch inspection cancelled: crew diverted to a 12-inch burst on Fenwick Road”

  2. 0206:00

    The morning check reads every record and every clock

    Record matcher and Barrier watcher

    The record matcher reads 2,914 new records: 41 inspections, 2,806 telemetry readings, 58 laboratory results, 6 alarms and 3 complaints. The barrier watcher checks 1,148 barrier clocks and 412 limits. B1 has no inspection record by its due date, so it turns red. Hatch H2 opened on 9 Oct from 14:12 to 14:19 with no work permit or keyholder visit matched, so the hatch alarm turns amber; outlet chlorine has fallen from 0.62 to 0.41 mg/L in three days, so the outlet analyser turns amber too.

    “B1 hatch seals and locks, SR-07: failing” — “Due 12 Oct, no record.”

  3. 0306:04

    The live risk rises from 5 to 15 — and waits for Amara

    Risk re-rater

    One critical preventive barrier is failing and one is weakened, so the risk re-rater steps the likelihood from 1 to 3 and the dial swings to 15 · High. The plan still says 5 · Medium: only Amara can change it. The re-rater drafts the response: an urgent hatch inspection today at P1, daily outlet sampling at SR-07 until B1 is restored, and a message to Declan Muir and Samuel Adeyemi.

    Left unticked: “Take cell 2 out of supply as a precaution — not advised: outlet samples clear, chlorine above alarm”

  4. 0407:12

    Rating confirmed, response raised in one step

    Amara Osei · Water safety plan lead

    Amara confirms the interim rating of 15 · High. Urgent hatch inspection WO-77418 is raised at P1. At 07:40 Declan Muir assigns Tobias Lund; at 09:55 Hana Kovač's first daily sample, S-26-48113, is taken at the outlet. Each new record joins the feed beside the bowtie.

    “Interim rating 15 · High confirmed · WO-77418 raised · daily sampling at SR-07”

  5. 0511:40

    On the roof: an 8 mm gap in the H2 seal

    Tobias Lund · Service reservoir inspector

    Inspection INS-SR07-1013 arrives from the roof of SR-07: the H2 seal has perished on the hinge side, with an 8 mm gap and bird droppings on the outer rim, none inside cell 2. The seal is replaced with part HS-600, the hatch relocked and four photos attached. The record matcher ties it to B1 at 99 %, and it also explains the 9 Oct alarm.

    “Also explains: the H2 contact event on 9 Oct — a perished seal lets the hatch lift in wind”

  6. 0611:42

    Barrier restored, risk back to Medium, plan updated

    Amara Osei and the Plan writer

    Amara accepts the inspection as evidence for B1. The barrier turns green, the likelihood returns to 1 and the live risk to 5 · Medium, with the H2 finding kept on the hazard. A minute later the plan writer adds the change to plan v4.4 and proposes improvement action IP-2026-031: seal condition checks and spare seals at the 9 reservoirs whose hatches are over 30 years old.

    No barrier turns green without a record that proves it.

  7. 07The lesson

    A cancelled inspection becomes a rule for every site

    Incident analyst

    The incident analyst opens INC-2026-041, “Critical inspection cancelled and not re-raised, Kestrel Ridge SR-07”, and proposes two changes for Amara to accept or reject: a new rule for all 86 critical barriers, and a change to the hatch check on 46 reservoirs, so that an H2 seal marked “fair” at an inspection triggers a seal replacement within 30 days. It proposes only; Amara decides what reaches the hazard register.

    New rule: “A cancelled inspection on a critical barrier is re-raised within 24 hours, on any site”

  8. 08Plan v4.4

    The plan document writes its own change log

    Plan writer

    Draft v4.4 follows the plan's 11 modules, from the team to revision after incidents, and supersedes v4.3, approved on 14 Mar 2026. It lists 14 changes since v4.3, each with who, when, why and the evidence. HZ-ST-017 reads: 5 · Medium, interim 15 · High from 06:00 to 11:42 on 13 Oct, B1 restored by INS-SR07-1013.

    Sign-off: “Drafted by Plan writer · Reviewed by Amara Osei · Approved by Samuel Adeyemi — waiting”

  9. 09Signed

    Samuel approves v4.4, with the meaning of his signature

    Samuel Adeyemi · Head of Drinking Water Quality

    Samuel signs as Head of Drinking Water Quality and chooses the meaning: “I approve this plan as the current water safety plan”. v4.3 stays readable. The audit pack follows from the same records: the plan document, an evidence index for the 86 critical barriers, the change log, the improvement plan and incident learning.

    “Plan v4.4 approved by Samuel Adeyemi · v4.3 kept read-only”

  10. 10The last 12 months

    Plan health, month by month

    Samuel Adeyemi · Head of Drinking Water Quality

    Today 99.5 % of barriers carry current evidence — 1,142 of 1,148. Since the daily check went live in May, failing critical barriers are found by the check, and in October they were restored in a median of 1.2 days, against 142 days for the 23 found at the March review. Hazards rated Very high fell from 4 to 2 between Q4 2025 and Q3 2026.

    “60 failing barriers found in 12 months; 21 on storage, 14 of them hatch, vent or roof checks”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who keeps the water safe.

The same missed inspection, seen by the five people who carry the plan — what their year looked like, and what it looks like now.

AO
Amara OseiWater safety plan lead, Lumina Water · confirms every re-rating
Water safety plan lead
Before
Owns 312 hazardous events and 1,148 barriers across two treatment works, a desalination plant and 46 service reservoirs and towers. “The plan says the hatch is checked monthly. Nothing told me when it wasn't.”
Now
Opens the hazard that changed overnight, sees the record that changed it and the response already drafted, and confirms or keeps the rating with a reason.
SA
Samuel AdeyemiHead of Drinking Water Quality · approves every plan version
Head of Drinking Water Quality
Before
The regulator's contact, approving a plan rebuilt once a year. “When the regulator asks, I want to show today's plan, not March's.”
Now
Signs each version with its change log and evidence, and approves improvement actions over $100,000.
DM
Declan MuirOperations manager, North network · dispatches inspections and repairs
Operations manager
Before
Runs 19 reservoirs, the field inspectors and the response crews. “Tell me which check, which site, today — and I'll get someone there.”
Now
Gets the urgent inspection raised with its priority and site, and decides with the control room whether a cell comes out of supply — never an agent.
TL
Tobias LundService reservoir inspector · hatches, vents, roofs and cells
Service reservoir inspector
Before
Makes 11 reservoir visits a week. “I find the problem on the roof. The plan finds out at the audit.”
Now
His inspection record and photos turn the barrier green the moment they are accepted, and his finding stays on the hazard.
HK
Hana KovačSampling and laboratory coordinator · 640 samples a week
Sampling and laboratory coordinator
Before
Schedules the samples and reports failures within the hour. “One coliform at a reservoir outlet and my whole week changes.”
Now
Sees daily outlet sampling proposed in the response while a storage barrier is red, and every check on its calendar.
Built on the engine

5 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Five agents check every barrier against its records each morning and re-rate the hazard; the water safety plan lead confirms and the Head of Drinking Water Quality signs.

Record matcher

Reads inspection records, telemetry, laboratory results, alarm events and complaints, and attaches each one to the barrier it verifies, with a confidence and the line of the record that proves the match.

  • Never edits a source record
  • Below 80 % confidence a person decides
  • Every match quotes the record
Barrier watcher

Every day at 06:00, and on every alarm, checks each barrier's verification clock and monitoring limits and sets it green, amber or red — red when overdue past grace or out of limit, amber when due within 7 days, trending to a limit or corroborated by an unexplained event.

  • Never marks a barrier restored without a record that proves it
  • Explains every status change
Risk re-rater

Recalculates the likelihood of each hazard from its barriers' status with the step rules in Settings, shows the live rating beside the plan rating and drafts the response for High or Very high: urgent work, extra sampling, who to tell.

  • Never changes the plan rating — the water safety plan lead confirms
  • Never takes a reservoir out of supply
Incident analyst

Reads incidents, near misses and audit findings, finds the hazards they touch and proposes new causes, barriers, check frequencies or rules, with the evidence.

  • Proposes only — never edits the hazard register
  • Never proposes a change without a record behind it
Plan writer

Keeps the plan document, change log and evidence index current in the utility's template, following the WHO modules; drafts each version and the audit pack.

  • Never approves a version — the Head of Drinking Water Quality signs
  • Marks drafts as draft
Plan lead, Head of DWQ and operations

Confirm, sign, dispatch the fix. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any hazard, barrier or record

Ask about any hazard, barrier or record in the plan — or say what to change. Every answer points to its records.

Why did Kestrel Ridge go to High this morning?

The monthly hatch inspection at SR-07 was missed. It was due on 12 Oct; work order WO-77310 was cancelled on 11 Oct when the crew went to the Fenwick Road burst, and nothing re-raised it. Hatch H2 opened for seven minutes on 9 Oct with no permit, and its seal was already marked “fair” in September. Outlet samples are still clear. Likelihood went from 1 to 3, so the live risk rose to 15 · High against the plan's 5.

Which critical barriers are overdue right now?

Five checks are past due, four of them on critical barriers: Kestrel Ridge SR-07 hatch seals and locks, since 06:00 today; Hollin Edge T-02 hatch seals and locks, 8 days, chased twice; Fenwick Moor filter turbidity calibration, 11 days; and 14 Oakmere backflow device tests, 5 days. The Wrenfold nitrate trend review is 6 days overdue but not critical.

Re-raise any cancelled critical inspection within 24 hours

Done. New rule: “When a work order for a critical barrier's check is cancelled, raise a replacement within 24 hours and tell the operations manager.” It covers all 86 critical barriers and would have caught WO-77310 on 12 Oct. You can change it in Settings.

Draft the change log for plan version 4.4

Drafted: 14 changes since v4.3 (14 Mar). The newest is HZ-ST-017 — interim 15 · High on 13 Oct, back to 5 after INS-SR07-1013 — with IP-2026-031 added. Each entry carries its evidence. It is on The plan for Samuel Adeyemi to approve.

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

The catchment-to-tap bowtieOne hazardous event as a bowtie: causes and preventive barriers on the left, consequences and recovery barriers on the right, the live risk dial in the middle and the records feeding it beside.
After the 06:00 checkThe hatch barrier red, the alarm and outlet chlorine amber, the live risk at 15 · High and the response drafted for the water safety plan lead to confirm.
Response raisedThe interim rating confirmed, the urgent inspection raised at P1, the inspector assigned and the first daily outlet sample in.
The inspection record arrivesThe perished H2 seal, its photos and what the record proves, explains and changes if accepted as evidence.
Barrier restoredB1 green, the live risk back to 5 · Medium, the change written into plan v4.4 and an improvement action proposed.
Learning from incidentsIncidents, near misses and audit findings, each with the plan changes the incident analyst proposes for the plan lead to accept or reject.
The plan documentThe draft version module by module, every change since the last version with who, when and why, and the sign-off panel.
Approve and signThe Head of Drinking Water Quality signs the version and chooses the meaning of the signature.
The hazard register312 hazardous events by stage, the rating in the plan beside the live rating from today's barrier status, and their failing barriers.
Barrier checksEvery check that proves a barrier works on a six-week calendar — done, due, overdue and cancelled work orders.
Evidence inEvery record matched to the barrier it proves as it arrives, with its confidence; below 80 % a person decides.
Plan healthBarriers with current evidence, failing barriers found and days to restore, hazards by live risk band and where failing barriers were found.
Your rulesThe risk matrix and its bands, how a failing barrier moves the rating, check frequencies and grace, and who decides.
Governance

Every barrier proved, every rating confirmed, every version signed.

Every barrier status shows its recordGreen, amber or red is set from records, not typed in, and each status names the record that set it — the inspection ID, the telemetry tag, the sample number, the work order.
A person confirms every re-ratingThe live rating moves with the barriers, but the plan rating changes only when the water safety plan lead confirms. Keeping the old rating needs a reason, kept in the change log.
The Head of Drinking Water Quality signs each versionA plan version needs the Head of Drinking Water Quality's signature with its meaning recorded. Improvement actions over $100,000 need the same approver.
Read-only on operational recordsThe agents read inspection, telemetry, laboratory and incident records and never write to them. Lumina's records stay within Lumina's own environment.
No agent takes water out of supplyTaking a reservoir cell out of supply is a decision for the operations manager with the control room — never an agent. The response only proposes it, with the reason for or against.
Versioned, with every change on the recordEvery change to the plan is in the change log with who, when, why and the evidence. Each version is kept: when v4.4 is approved, v4.3 stays readable.
Configuration

Your risk matrix and your checks, not ours

How the plan rates risk, how often each barrier is checked and who decides are settings, chosen by the water quality team.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Risk matrix5 × 5, likelihood × consequenceBands Low 1–4 · Medium 5–9 · High 10–15 · Very high 16–25 — click any cell to change its band
When a critical preventive barrier fails+2 likelihoodAny other preventive barrier +1 · amber with an unexplained event +0, flagged · recovery barrier: readiness flag, likelihood unchanged
Hatch and vent security checksMonthlyGrace 7 days · critical barriers until 06:00 the next day · 92 barriers
Reservoir outlet samplingWeeklyGrace 0 days · critical barriers until 06:00 the next day · 46 barriers
Cell isolation drillYearlyGrace 30 days · critical barriers 14 days · 31 barriers
Confirm a re-ratingAmara Osei · water safety plan leadChange — choose from the water quality team
Approve a plan versionSamuel Adeyemi · Head of Drinking Water QualityAlso approves improvement actions over $100,000 · taking a reservoir cell out of supply stays with Declan Muir and the control room, never an agent
Plan review triggersOnWithin 30 days of a red critical barrier · after any incident at Medium or above · re-check within 15 minutes after any alarm on a critical barrier · daily outlet sampling while a storage barrier is red
Connections

Works with the records that prove a control works

Inspection recordsreservoir hatch, vent, roof and site checks, with their photos
Telemetry and alarmschlorine analysers, hatch contacts, access logs and their alarm events
Laboratory resultsoutlet and final water samples — coliforms, E. coli, chlorine, bromate
Work ordersplanned inspections, urgent jobs and cancellations
Customer complaintstaste, odour and discoloured water contacts, by zone
Incidents and audit findingsincidents, near misses and internal audit findings, and the hazard register they change
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
24hours
to flag a failing barrier on a critical control, not at the annual review
Found at the annual reviewup to a year
Found by the 06:00 checkwithin 24 h
target
100%
of control measures with current verification evidence, ready for the regulator on any day
Every barrier
proved by its own record
target
1day
to an audit-ready plan pack, not about 3 weeks by hand
By hand≈ 3 weeks
With agents1 day

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = the demo utility's own estimate of about 3 weeks for the audit pack, and our split of those days · “typical” = published figures (Alamosa, Colorado, 2008: a breached storage reservoir, about 1,300 people estimated ill, state public health report). Context: WHO Water safety plan manual, 2nd ed. (2023); EU Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184, risk assessment of each supply system reviewed at least every 6 years. Lumina Water and every person, site and record named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What water quality teams ask us.

What is water safety plan software?

Software that holds a drinking-water supplier's water safety plan — every hazardous event from catchment to tap, its controls and the checks that prove them — and keeps it current. Water Safety Plan Management draws each hazard as a bowtie and feeds every barrier from its own inspection, telemetry, laboratory, alarm and work order records, so the plan's status is computed from the records, not typed in.

How does a live water safety plan work?

Every day at 06:00, and on every alarm, the barrier watcher checks each barrier's verification clock and monitoring limits. A barrier whose check is overdue past its grace or whose monitoring is out of limit turns red, and the risk re-rater raises the hazard's live rating that morning. The water safety plan lead confirms the new rating and the response; the plan document, change log and evidence update as the fix is recorded.

How does it keep the plan audit-ready?

The plan writer keeps the plan document, change log and evidence index current as changes are accepted. The audit pack — the plan, an evidence index for every critical barrier, the change log, the improvement plan and incident learning — is built from the same records. The target is an audit-ready pack in 1 day, against about 3 weeks by hand.

Does it revise the plan after an incident?

Yes. The incident analyst reads incidents, near misses and audit findings, and proposes new causes, barriers, check frequencies or rules, each with its evidence, following WHO's step of revising the plan after an incident. It proposes only; the water safety plan lead accepts or rejects each change.

Do people stay in control of risk ratings and the plan?

Yes. The agents read records and never write to them. The plan rating changes only when the water safety plan lead confirms, each version needs the Head of Drinking Water Quality's signature with its meaning recorded, and no agent ever takes a reservoir cell out of supply.

Can we use our own risk matrix and check frequencies?

Yes. The risk matrix and its bands, how much a failing barrier moves the likelihood, the check frequency and grace for each barrier type, the approvers and the plan review triggers are all settings.

What records does it need?

The hazard register and control procedures you already have, and the records that prove each control works: inspection records, telemetry and alarm events, laboratory results, work orders, customer complaints, incidents and audit findings.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your current water safety plan, hazard register, control procedures and a sample of inspection and sampling records — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own plan first.

See it on
your water safety plan.

We'll run Water Safety Plan Management on a sample of your own hazards, inspections and sample results.