IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v11y2014i8p8137-8165d39056.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Jamie Bartram

    (Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Clarissa Brocklehurst

    (Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Michael B. Fisher

    (Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Rolf Luyendijk

    (The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York, NY 10017, USA)

  • Rifat Hossain

    (Division of Public Health and the Environment, World Health Organization, Geneva 1211, Switzerland)

  • Tessa Wardlaw

    (The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York, NY 10017, USA)

  • Bruce Gordon

    (Division of Public Health and the Environment, World Health Organization, Geneva 1211, Switzerland)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Jamie Bartram & Clarissa Brocklehurst & Michael B. Fisher & Rolf Luyendijk & Rifat Hossain & Tessa Wardlaw & Bruce Gordon, 2014. "Global Monitoring of Water Supply and Sanitation: History, Methods and Future Challenges," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-29, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:8:p:8137-8165:d:39056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/8/8137/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/8/8137/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Easterly, William, 2009. "How the Millennium Development Goals are Unfair to Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 26-35, January.
    2. Pierre Najlis & Anthony Edwards, 1991. "The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade in retrospect and implications for the future," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 15(2), pages 110-117, May.
    3. Eisenberg, J.N.S. & Scott, J.C. & Porco, T., 2007. "Integrating disease control strategies: Balancing water sanitation and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrheal disease burden," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(5), pages 846-852.
    4. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, 2008. "Are the MDGs Priority in Development Strategies and Aid Programmes? Only few are!," Working Papers 48, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    5. Jamie Bartram, 2008. "Improving on haves and have-nots," Nature, Nature, vol. 452(7185), pages 283-284, March.
    6. Gunther, Isabel & Fink, Gunther, 2010. "Water, sanitation and children's health : evidence from 172 DHS surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5275, The World Bank.
    7. Robert Bain & Ryan Cronk & Jim Wright & Hong Yang & Tom Slaymaker & Jamie Bartram, 2014. "Fecal Contamination of Drinking-Water in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-23, May.
    8. Kyle Onda & Joe LoBuglio & Jamie Bartram, 2012. "Global Access to Safe Water: Accounting for Water Quality and the Resulting Impact on MDG Progress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stefanie Schwemlein & Ryan Cronk & Jamie Bartram, 2016. "Indicators for Monitoring Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: A Systematic Review of Indicator Selection Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Ziming Yan & Xiaojuan Qiu & Debin Du & Seamus Grimes, 2022. "Transboundary Water Cooperation in the Post-Cold War Era: Spatial Patterns and the Role of Proximity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-19, January.
    3. Jiaying Wang & Tao Tao & Hexiang Yan, 2017. "Effects of Sulfate, Chloride, and Bicarbonate on Iron Stability in a PVC-U Drinking Pipe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-10, June.
    4. Andrew Curtis & Sandra Bempah & Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar & Dania Mofleh & Lorriane Odhiambo, 2018. "Spatial Video Health Risk Mapping in Informal Settlements: Correcting GPS Error," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Alejandro Quispe-Coica & Sonia Fernández & Luz Acharte Lume & Agustí Pérez-Foguet, 2020. "Status of Water Quality for Human Consumption in High-Andean Rural Communities: Discrepancies between Techniques for Identifying Trace Metals," J, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-19, April.
    6. Qing Luo & Mengjie Zhang & Wei Yao & Yanfen Fu & Haichun Wei & Yong Tao & Jianjun Liu & Hongyan Yao, 2018. "A Spatio-Temporal Pattern and Socio-Economic Factors Analysis of Improved Sanitation in China, 2006–2015," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-13, November.
    7. Lorelei Ford & Lalita Bharadwaj & Lianne McLeod & Cheryl Waldner, 2017. "Human Health Risk Assessment Applied to Rural Populations Dependent on Unregulated Drinking Water Sources: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Akina Shrestha & Subodh Sharma & Jana Gerold & Séverine Erismann & Sanjay Sagar & Rajendra Koju & Christian Schindler & Peter Odermatt & Jürg Utzinger & Guéladio Cissé, 2017. "Water Quality, Sanitation, and Hygiene Conditions in Schools and Households in Dolakha and Ramechhap Districts, Nepal: Results from A Cross-Sectional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jonny Crocker & Jamie Bartram, 2014. "Comparison and Cost Analysis of Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Requirements versus Practice in Seven Developing Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Georgia L. Kayser & Patrick Moriarty & Catarina Fonseca & Jamie Bartram, 2013. "Domestic Water Service Delivery Indicators and Frameworks for Monitoring, Evaluation, Policy and Planning: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-24, October.
    3. Dorian Tosi Robinson & Ariane Schertenleib & Bal Mukunda Kunwar & Rubika Shrestha & Madan Bhatta & Sara J. Marks, 2018. "Assessing the Impact of a Risk-Based Intervention on Piped Water Quality in Rural Communities: The Case of Mid-Western Nepal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-23, July.
    4. A. G. S. Reddy, 2023. "A review on violation of drinking water specifications in water supply and research publications," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1084-1100, February.
    5. Ashma Vaidya & Audrey L. Mayer, 2016. "Critical Review of the Millennium Project in Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-23, October.
    6. Shinice Jackson & Derek Yu, 2023. "Re-examining the Multidimensional Poverty Index of South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-25, February.
    7. Dawn C. Parker & Kathryn H. Jacobsen & Maction K. Komwa, 2009. "A Qualitative Study of the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Agricultural Households in Southeastern Uganda," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-26, July.
    8. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen, 2010. "Fragility and MDG Progress: How useful is the Fragility Concept?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 41, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    9. Qiting Zuo & Yixuan Diao & Lingang Hao & Chunhui Han, 2020. "Comprehensive Evaluation of the Human-Water Harmony Relationship in Countries Along the “Belt and Road”," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 34(13), pages 4019-4035, October.
    10. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Serajuddin, Umar, 2020. "Tracking the sustainable development goals: Emerging measurement challenges and further reflections," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    11. Laura Camfield & Andrew Crabtree & Keetie Roelen, 2013. "Editorial: Poverty, Vulnerability and Resilience in a Post-2015 World," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 599-608, September.
    12. Maxim Pinkovskiy & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2014. "Africa is on time," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 311-338, September.
    13. Fukuda-Parr, Sakiko & Greenstein, Joshua & Stewart, David, 2013. "How Should MDG Success and Failure be Judged: Faster Progress or Achieving the Targets?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 19-30.
    14. Barrington, D.J. & Sridharan, S. & Shields, K.F. & Saunders, S.G. & Souter, R.T. & Bartram, J., 2017. "Sanitation marketing: A systematic review and theoretical critique using the capability approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 128-134.
    15. Winthrop, Rebecca & Anderson, Kate & Cruzalegui, Inés, 2015. "A review of policy debates around learning in the post-2015 education and development agenda," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 297-307.
    16. Afolabi Tunde Ahmed & Imran Ur Rahman, 2020. "The Impact of FDI and Foreign Aid on the Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Countries," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 4(6), pages 53-70.
    17. Benjamin Leo, 2010. "Who Are the MDG Trailblazers? A New MDG Progress Index," Working Papers id:2926, eSocialSciences.
    18. Ayse Ercumen & Benjamin F Arnold, 2015. "Upgrading a Piped Water Supply from Intermittent to Continuous Delivery and Association with Waterborne Illness: A Matched Cohort Study in Urban India," Working Papers id:7729, eSocialSciences.
    19. Martin Ravallion, 2012. "Why Don't We See Poverty Convergence?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 504-523, February.
    20. William Joe & Udaya Shankar Mishra, 2015. "On Reckoning Level Differentials in the Measurement of Progress: An Illustration in the Context of Deliveries Assisted by Skilled Health Personnel," IEG Working Papers 352, Institute of Economic Growth.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:8:p:8137-8165:d:39056. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.