The Safe Water for All project solves challenges related to water safety through multidisciplinary cooperation. Several disciplines are represented in the consortium, such as engineering, law and economics, social sciences and military sciences, engineering and health sciences, computer science, and environmental science.
The work package (WP) leaders represent research institutes and universities in Finland that are central to the project.
The project consists of seven work packages.
WP1: Sources of risks and pressures
The aim of the work package is to identify vulnerabilities and sources of risks in water management, which include various external threats, such as droughts, floods, population growth, hostile activities, and internal threats, such as ageing infrastructure and shortages of staff and resources. WP1 combines in-depth qualitative research and large quantitative data sets obtained from national data systems.
The work package will create a national risk map for water services by using GIS and data analysis. Furthermore, future risks will be analyzed by forming water supply scenarios through a participative scenario formation process.
WP2: Water supply systems
The work package examines the functionality and reliability of water utilities in real example sites. The study examines, among other things, the appearance of contaminants in raw water, the digital twin approach to water management, and the structural integrity of water intake wells.
The aim is also to develop a monitoring and sampling plan, study the digitalization of water utilities and analyze structural weaknesses in water supply systems.
WP3: Socio-economic security
This work package analyses the challenges related to the operational reliability of water utilities and their networks from an economic and financial perspective. Investment and maintenance debt, regional economic and demographic challenges will be studied. The project will deliver an assessment tool for the financial sustainability of water utilities and municipalities.
WP4: Health and water quality
The work package examines water quality problems from the point of view of human health. This is supported by AI-based analysis tools that are used to crowdsource and mine social media data.
The work package also analyses the links between water quality, weather and waterborne epidemics and develops tools for assessing waterborne health risks.
WP5: Governance and regulation of water services
This work package examines the combined effects of regulatory changes in water services and proposes ways to organize water services sustainably. In addition, the governance models of water supply units, preparedness regulations and water services are analyzed from a human rights perspective.
The aim is to develop an assessment matrix for an optimal organizational structure for water services and a regulatory model for safety and resilience obligations.
WP6: Resilience and security
The task of the work package is to utilize systemic methods (e.g. resilience matrix and multi-objective assessment) to collect and systematically review the information obtained from other work packages. The work package analyses, among other things, the resilience of water supply systems and the trade-offs between different measures.
The aim is to obtain a comprehensive picture of the threats related to drinking water production and solutions that promote resilience, and to carry out a national water safety assessment.
WP7: Interaction, Communication and Project Management
The aim of the work package is to promote interaction between partners and stakeholders and to enhance the societal and scientific impact of the project.
The work package will also coordinate the scientific cooperation of the project and develop scenarios and visions for the provision of clean water.