Water is the source of life, without which humans and the natural environment cannot survive. Provision of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management services are of paramount importance for any community. These services are provided by water utilities. ISO TC 224 wishes to promote awareness of how water utilities can fulfill effectively and efficiently the needs and expectations of their customers and other stakeholders in the face of changing climate conditions and emerging technologies. 

Origin

ISO TC 224 was established in 2001 to improve the governance of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities and build the capacities of local communities.  Since its inception, ISO TC 224 has developed and continues to develop standards providing guidance on good practices and recommendations for water utilities.

Mission

The mission of TC 224 is to prepare standards that provide guidance on good practices and recommendations (via Service Standards) on the provision of services by drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities. This includes:

• Helping stakeholders understand the fundamental concepts and vocabulary of water services' provision;
• Facilitating dialogue between stakeholders;
• Facilitating improved-governance of water utilities' service delivery;
• Helping utilities achieve service standards that meet or exceed users' and other stakeholders' reasonable expectations;
• Improving services whilst complying with the principles of sustainable development, in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as described below.

What are water utilities' service activities?

Water utility service activities include providing drinking water supply, wastewater and stormwater management services (appropriate to the utility's service area) in accordance with requirements established by the applicable responsible bodies and relevant authorities, and the water utility’s corporate objectives to the level of service agreed with the registered users.

Service delivery requires activities that may not be seen or perceived by customer and stakeholders users directly but which are essential for provision of the service (e.g. management of assets). Some activities are essential to maintain service standards (e.g. water loss management). And some are intended to support users in achieving their own efficiency improvements on receipt of the service (e.g. water efficiency management). 

The need for early detection and rapid response to abnormal events is encouraging some water utilities to establish innovative means of detecting and classifying abnormal events’ causation. This, allied with recent technological advances is permitting more advanced means of on-line monitoring of water service provision.  Aligned with the anticipation and management of abnormal events such as cyber and other forms of terrorism is the emerging need to anticipate and respond to the impacts of climate change on the provision of services.

As illustrated by these examples, the assurance of water service provision requires a diverse range of activities which are essential for the effective and efficient discharge of a water utility's responsabilities. 

Fundamental to TC 224 is it’s need to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. TC 224’s members are continuously reviewing developments in technology, customer and stakeholder needs and environmental concerns as they are identified with the view to develop standards to serve those objectives.

Business Plan

ISO TC 224 Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems - Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Committee's environment

In 2001, an ISO technical committee was created to improve the governance of drinking water and sanitation services and build the capacities of local communities. Since its inception ISO/TC 224 has developed standards providing guidelines for service activities related to drinking water supply, wastewater and stormwater systems.

Water is a worldwide challenge for the 21st century, and following the Paris Agreement and the establishment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, ISO/TC 224 reaffirmed its commitment to address these challenges and contribute in particular to SDGs 6 (Clean water and sanitation), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 11 (Sustainable cities and communities), 12 (Responsible consumption and production) and 13 (Climate action).

The standards developed by ISO/TC 224 are designed to help water authorities and their operators:
•    achieve a level of service that best meets the expectations of consumers and the principles of sustainable development;
•    operate their assets with good management practices;
•    manage crisis situations and face climate change issues;
•    develop centralized or onsite systems for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management, as appropriate; and
•    leverage on digitalization to achieve all these goals.

Benefits

Main Objectives of water utilities

Water utilities aim to manage their facilities systematically and efficiently in order to: 

• Protecting public health; 
• Meeting users’ reasonable needs and expectations;
• Providing services under normal and emergency situations; 
• Promoting the sustainability of the water utilities; 
• Promoting sustainable development of the community; 
• Protecting the environment. 

The ISO standards developed by TC 224 will help: 

• Further the dialogue among stakeholders, including users, responsible authorities, public or private, operators, research institutions, and laboratories; 
• Develop a mutual understanding of responsibilities and tasks;
• Provide methods and tools to define objectives and specifications, and assess performance; 
• Monitor performance for possible benchmarking among water utilities; 
• Develop design or construction specifications for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems and services.

TC 224 standards may be applied in both industrialized and developing countries, in all sizes of urban environments, regardless of whether or not the utility operator is a public or private entity. Some countries may choose to encourage voluntary applications, others may choose to mandate the application by providing a legislated reference.

Main objectives and activities of the committee 

The work of TC 224 continues to evolve as areas for guidance and recommendations are identified.  The list of published standards and standards under development can be found on ISO TC 224 Website. 

ISO/TC 224 standards deal with: 

• The definition of a terminology common to the different stakeholders; 
• The clarification of user expectations, specifying the elements of the service as well as the manner of expressing the performance expected by the users; 
• Drinking water supply management practices;
• Wastewater collection and treatment management practices;
• Stormwater management practices;
• The clarification of governance responsibilities; 
• Actions for the optimized management of these services; 
• Optimizing the management of assets to contribute to the sustainability of the utility and the served jurisdiction; 
• Methodologies for measuring service quality criteria and developing performance indicators for reporting to stakeholders and comparing observed results with targets; 
• Crises and crisis management; 
• Guidance on water efficiency management systems; 
• Guidance for mitigation and adaptation to climate change impacts; 
• Development of digital infrastructures for secure data management, i.e., smart utilities; 
• Wastewater collection with a particular consideration for flushable products taking into account the tremendous problem for wastewater networks.

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SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation

The work that TC224 are undertaking contributes to the Sustainable Development Goal 6 to ensure available and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

The current statement of Goal 6 is by 2030 to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations

For further information, link on SDG 6 and refer to the United Nations Development Programme website.