24
Proposed goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Our main concern when analysing this goal is to define smart and reliable indicators adaptable to urban and rural contexts. Assessing the quality and extent of basic service provision within and between countries is difficult due to the lack of agreement on standards for judging provision and of data on provision. This is seen most dramatically in standards for water and sanitation provision. In high-income and many middle-income countries, adequate provision for water is considered to be 24 hours a day provision of drinking quality water piped into each home. Cost is also a concern if a proportion of households cannot afford to pay the full costs of provision. But the only global dataset on provision for water has no data on whether the water provided is regular or of drinking quality, or on whether it is affordable. It only has data on two indicators: who has water piped to their premises and who has ‘improved provision’. This last category used in the MDGs includes, not only the use of piped water into a dwelling, yard or plot, but also public tap or standpipe, tubewell or borehole, protected spring, protected dug well or rainwater collection. So, those who only have access to a public tap or standpipe still get classified as having ‘improved provision’ even when getting water involves long queues and great effort needed to fetch and carry water back and forth to the home. If a household of six persons needs at least 150 litres of water per day (which is far below the norm in high-income nations), this means fetching and carrying 150 kilos of water. And the water at the tap or standpipe may be irregular and undrinkable. Obviously many of these modalities are not adequate for dense urban areas (David Satterthwaite, GOLD III, 2014). There are comparable problems for sanitation. ‘Improved provision’, as defined in the MDGs, includes flush or pour-flush to a piped sewer system, septic tank, but also a pit latrine, a pit latrine with a slab and a composting toilet, that are not well adapted to dense urban areas. However, in general, there is no data on what proportion of each nation’s national (urban or rural) populations have each of these, only the aggregated figure for ‘improved provision’. Target 6.1. By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all (a) Dimensions to be measured: - Access to basic drinking water supply - Access to intermediate drinking water services - Affordability of drinking water services (b) Proposed indicators: Proposed indicators 1. Percentage of population using basic drinking water services at home (basic = using an improved source (for urban areas excluding protected dug wells and springs) with a total collection time of 30 minutes or less for a roundtrip including queuing.)
Complementary indicators
Comments (Linkages, disaggregation and sources) Linkages: Goal 1.4; Goal 3.3; Goal 11.1 Disaggregation by: urban, peri-urban and rural areas (indicator used for MDGs readily available for urban/rural); level of income; slums/formal urban settlements, disadvantaged groups/general population (these breakdowns are not readily available); Sources: JMP WHO/UNICEF modified. Currently refining indicators, so not readily available: http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/4408trevett.pdf; http://www.unicef.org/wash/files/4_WSSCC_JMP_Fact_Sheets_4_UK_LoRes.pdf