Improved water source

An improved water source (or improved drinking-water source or improved water supply) is a term used to categorize certain types or levels of water supply for monitoring purposes. It is defined as a type of water source that, by nature of its construction or through active intervention, is likely to be protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with fecal matter.[1]

The term was coined by the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation of UNICEF and WHO in 2002 to help monitor the progress towards Goal Number 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The opposite of "improved water source" has been termed "unimproved water source" in the JMP definitions.

In 2017, JMP defined a new term: "basic water service". This is defined as the drinking water coming from an improved source, and provided the collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip. A lower level of service is now called "limited water service" which is the same as basic service but the collection time is longer than 30 minutes.[2]

Definitions

To allow for international comparability of estimates for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation defines "improved" drinking water sources as follows:

  • Piped water into dwelling[3]
  • Piped water into yard/plot[3]
  • Public tap/standpipes[3]
  • Tubewell/boreholes[3]
  • Protected dug wells[3]
  • Protected springs (normally part of a spring supply)[3]
  • Rainwater collection[3]
  • Bottled water, if the secondary source used by the household for cooking and personal hygiene is improved[3]

Water sources that are not considered as "improved" are:

  • Unprotected dug wells[3]
  • Unprotected springs[3]
  • Vendor provided water[3]
  • Cart with small tank/drum[3]
  • Bottled water, if the secondary source used by the household for cooking and personal hygiene is unimproved[3]
  • Tanker-truck[3]
  • Surface water[3]

See also

References
  1. WHO and UNICEF definitions of improved drinking-water source on the JMP website Archived 2012-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, WHO, Geneva and UNICEF, New York, accessed on June 10, 2012
  2. WHO and UNICEF (2017) Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and SDG Baselines. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2017
  3. WHO and UNICEF types of improved drinking-water source on the JMP website Archived 2015-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, WHO, Geneva and UNICEF, New York, accessed on June 10, 2012
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.