Global Monitoring of Water Supply and Sanitation: History, Methods and Future Challenges

Abstract

International monitoring of drinking water and sanitation shapes awareness of countries’ needs and informs policy, implementation and research efforts to extend and improve services. The Millennium Development Goals established global targets for drinking water and sanitation access; progress towards these targets, facilitated by international monitoring, has contributed to reducing the global disease burden and increasing quality of life. The experiences of the MDG period generated important lessons about the strengths and limitations of current approaches to defining and monitoring access to drinking water and sanitation. The methods by which the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of WHO and UNICEF tracks access and progress are based on analysis of data from household surveys and linear regression modelling of these results over time. These methods provide nationally-representative and internationally-comparable insights into the drinking water and sanitation facilities used by populations worldwide, but also have substantial limitations: current methods do not address water quality, equity of access, or extra-household services. Improved statistical methods are needed to better model temporal trends. This article describes and critically reviews JMP methods in detail for the first time. It also explores the impact of, and future directions for, international monitoring of drinking water and sanitation.

Consistency of Use and Effectiveness of Household Water Treatment Practices Among Urban and Rural Populations Claiming to Treat Their Drinking Water at Home: A Case Study in Zambia

“…11 While relying on household-based surveys may be the most practical and cost-effective way of gathering these data at the national and regional scale, as is the case with surveybased data on access to drinking water as well as sanitation, limitations may exist regarding the reliability and value of these data for public health and policy purposes. [12][13][14] First, overreporting of "good" practices has been shown to be a problem in survey-based studies, [15][16][17][18] especially in government-sponsored surveys. 19 Overreporting of HWT in experimental settings is a common phenomenon, [20][21][22][23] and so, it may also be prevalent outside this context.…”

Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage to Prevent Diarrheal Disease in Developing Countries

“…The most obvious target should be populations relying on unsafe water sources. However, current methods for monitoring water safety rely on proxies, such as the service level, rather than actually testing water quality, providing a poor tool for identifying an exposed population [20]. Young children, especially after weaning, account for much of the mortality associated with diarrhea [31]; they are also particularly at risk because of stunting and the serious and irreversible sequelae associated therewith [4].…”

Policy review of the means of implementation targets and indicators for the sustainable development goal for water and sanitation

“…For example, the inexplicable omission of sanitation from the Millennium Development Goals in 2001 was remedied in 2002 by a simple insertion into the target wording. 16 Similarly, other fundamental issues, such as affordability, were sequentially deleted and reinserted. 16 The SDG6 MoI targets and associated indicators could be substantively improved.…”

“…16 Similarly, other fundamental issues, such as affordability, were sequentially deleted and reinserted. 16 The SDG6 MoI targets and associated indicators could be substantively improved. We call on the international community to consider such improvement, including:…”