Understanding Chemical Safety in Drinking Water

Course overview

This training covers aspects of water quality risk assessment and management in the clean water supply system at a chemical level, to provide individuals with the knowledge and expertise in ensuring end-user water is compliant and poses no risk to human health. Upon course completion, delegates will be able to:

• Recognise the impact of natural and anthropogenic sources of chemicals in water and the importance of monitoring the chemical quality of water as part of regulatory requirements.
• Consider the role of toxicology and the importance of chemical risk assessment in understanding how chemicals can behave in the body and potentially cause health effects and why some people may be more susceptible to the effects of exposure to chemicals in water.
• Outline how health-based guideline values are derived from toxicology data and how this can be interpreted, communicated, and used to aid decision-making and risk management of chemical quality in water.

Who can benefit?

Delegates may include those needing to develop and broaden their knowledge of toxicology in the water industry to support their current role of future career, for example water quality specialists, early career-starters and graduates of relevant subjects. Individuals may also be drawn from any area of business or service where the impact of chemicals in water effects their decision making. Relevant roles may include middle managers and non-technical specialists.

Training outline

The live online course is interactive, with a mix of lecture, group discussion, and exercises to facilitate an engaging learner experience. An end-of course multiple choice assessment effectively demonstrates knowledge transfer. Delivery is structured into three half-days of learning to allow delegates to take the course alongside work commitments.

• Chemicals in Water: An overview of the sources of chemical pollutants in water; the importance of chemical quality of water (including case study examples); and the regulatory requirements and relevance for Water Safety Planning.
  
• Toxicology and Chemical Risk Assessment: An insight into how chemicals interact with the body; the characteristics and behaviour of chemicals that need to be considered when exposures occur from water; and how human risk factors influence susceptibility to the effects of exposure to chemicals.
• Interpretation to Aid Decision-Making and Risk Management: An explanation of key terminologies and tools to aid the interpretation of chemical risk assessment outputs, to show how this information is used to derive health-based guidelines which offer protection against any potential risks that may result from exposure to chemicals in drinking water.