Global Access to Safe Water: Accounting for Water Quality and the Resulting Impact on MDG Progress

Abstract

Abstract:Monitoring of progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) drinking water target relies on classification of water sources as "improved" or "unimproved" as an indicator for water safety. We adjust the current Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) estimate by accounting for microbial water quality and sanitary risk using the only-nationally representative water quality data currently available, that from the WHO and UNICEF "Rapid Assessment of Drinking Water Quality". A principal components analysis (PCA) of national environmental and development indicators was used to create models that predicted, for most countries, the proportions of piped and of other-improved water supplies that are faecally contaminated; and of these sources, the proportions that lack basic sanitary protection against contamination. We estimate that 1.8 billion people (28% of the global population) used unsafe water in 2010. The 2010 JMP estimate is that 783 million people (11%) use unimproved sources. Our estimates revise the 1990 baseline from 23% to 37%, and the target from 12% to 18%, resulting in a shortfall of 10% of the global population towards the MDG target in 2010. In contrast, using the indicator "use of an improved source" suggests that the MDG target for drinkingwater has already been achieved. We estimate that an additional 1.2 billion (18%) use water from sources or systems with significant sanitary risks. While our estimate is imprecise, the magnitude of the estimate and the health and development implications suggest that greater attention is needed to better understand and manage drinking water safety.

Production of ceramic membranes with different pore sizes for virus retention

“…The outer as well as the inner diameter were reduced to around 80% of their initial size due to applied sintering at 1050 • C for 2 h. The outer diameter of both capillary types is 1.65 ± 0.04 mm and the inner diameter changed to 0.80 ± 0.04 mm. In contrast to the capillaries made of YSZ-40 nm and YSZ-90 nm (Types [3][4][5], no difference between the shrinkage of the outer and inner diameter was determined.…”

“…for 46% of the population in Oceania and 39% of the population in Sub-Sahara Africa [1,2]. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1.8 million people die annually from diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and dysentery transmitted through polluted water [3,4].…”

Microbiological effectiveness of mineral pot filters as household water treatment in the coastal areas of Bangladesh

“…A recent study has estimated that about 1.2 billion people lack access to microbiologically or chemically safe drinking water (Onda et al 2012).…”

Piped water flows but sachet consumption grows: The paradoxical drinking water landscape of an urban slum in Ashaiman, Ghana

“…Despite the UN announcement in March 2012 that Target 7C of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) was met ahead of schedule globally (WHO/UNICEF, 2012), sub-Saharan Africa continues to have the lowest percentage of population with access to an improved water source among all world regions, particularly in urban areas (WHO/UNICEF, 2013), and a number of critiques have noted the inadequacy of the metric "access to an improved water source." Drinking water access in sub-Saharan Africa may be qualified by water quality (Bain et al, 2012;Onda, LoBuglio, & Bartram, 2012), fragmented distribution (Bakker, 2010), unsustainability (Stoler, 2012), usage patterns (Kayaga, Fisher, & Franceys, 2009) and government corruption (Nganyanyuka, Martinez, Wesselink, Lungo, & Georgiadou, 2014). Along similar lines, Obeng-Odoom (2012) frames "deep" access as the interaction between four dimensions: quality, reliability, cost, and equity.…”