<aside> ℹ️ Task requirements: 2-3 SWP Team Members, 1-2 weeks depending on stakeholder engagement and necessary reviews, workshops, and inputs.

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<aside> ✅ Output: Adopted SWP Action Plan

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The SWP action plan should be relatively easy to assemble if the previous steps and outputs have been completed. The action plan details the activities, interventions, responsibilities, schedule, monitoring and evaluation, and budget for implementing SWP. It is meant to be a living document and should be revisited at a specific time interval or milestone. This is discussed more in Component 6. Continuous Learning and Improvement.

<aside> ℹ️ It is likely that government actors, NGOs, civil societies, and other stakeholders that are potentially engaged in a SWP project have already developed project management procedures and templates. Guidance and documents that are provided in this Component are for reference, but it expected practitioners will need to adapt Action Plans to their context and program requirements.

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Action Plan Contents

The following action plan outline is derived from the AWWA G300-14 standard but are also similar to elements required for an Improvement Plan outlined in the second-edition of the WHO Water Safety Plan Manual (Module 5).

The action plan outlines the necessary measures (such as management practices, modifications to laws or regulations, agreements, etc.) required to address current and future risks to source water. It prioritizes these measures and schedules their implementation to achieve program goals. The plan should detail:

1. Identification of specific activities, programs, or interventions required for each goal related to source water protection.
2. Ranking of these activities, programs, or interventions based on their potential effectiveness, risk mitigation, resource availability, timing, support from stakeholders, political viability, and other factors.
3. Specification of required resources (like personnel, funding, expertise from various stakeholders and partnerships) and strategies for acquiring them.
4. Recognition of potential challenges or hurdles to executing the plan, with strategies for overcoming these challenges included.
5. Establishment of measures for tracking and documenting progress of projects or programs, and for monitoring any changes in funding or budgets.

Beyond these points, the action plan may also include:

• Where applicable, procedures for assuring compliance with all relevant regulations related to source water protection at local, regional, or federal levels.
• Developing emergency preparedness and response plans with clear instructions for stakeholders in the case of a contamination event.
• Documenting health and safety protocols to protect staff, stakeholders, and community member involved in watershed management activities, which could be specific to the source water protection activities or part of a broader safety program.

Example Action Plans

[This document provides an example action plan developed by ACUGOLFO in El Salvador. The primary focus of this action plan is to protect upper watershed basins in the Cacahuatique Mountain Range that feed the mountain springs for thousands of residents living at the base of the mountain. ](https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/4a237c7f-9405-4f05-a171-8f3988917b79/c03b4a06-70a3-467a-a842-1db009bc7c1f/Plan_Estrategico_-_Fondo_de_Agua_y_Agricultura.pdf)

This document provides an example action plan developed by ACUGOLFO in El Salvador. The primary focus of this action plan is to protect upper watershed basins in the Cacahuatique Mountain Range that feed the mountain springs for thousands of residents living at the base of the mountain.

Activities and Interventions

The activities and interventions should be primarily guided by the Inventory of Contaminant Sources, Land Use Practices, and Hazards developed in Component 2. Source Water & System(s) Characterization step 4. This is because SWP is meant to mitigate risk of contamination, loss, or climate impact of water resources and by ranking risk water resources, it is easier to determine which activities and interventions should be prioritized over others.

It is expected that there will be competing interests, limited budgets, and constrained human resources to carry out the SWP action plan and therefore, it should be developed from clear goals (Component 3. SWP Goals) and be framed by the results of Component 2.