Topic
Improved water source
About: Improved water source is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 177 publications have been published within this topic receiving 4122 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
1 Apr 2006
TL;DR: In 2000, the United Nations millennium summit called on all countries to work toward a quantified, time-bound set of development targets, which became the millennium development goals (MDG), and the idea of working toward specific goals has evolved into a general strategy of managing for development results as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The developing world has made remarkable progress. The number of people living in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day has fallen by about 400 million in the last 25 years. Many more children, particularly girls, are completing primary school. Illiteracy rates have fallen by half in 30 years. And life expectancy is nearly 15 years longer, on average, than it was 40 years ago. The demand for statistics to measure progress and demonstrate the effectiveness of development programs has stimulated growing interest in the production and dissemination of statistics. And not just in the traditional domains of debt, demographics, and national accounts, but in new areas such as biodiversity, information, communications, technology, and measures of government and business performance. In response World Development Indicators (WDI) has continued to grow and change. In 1999 members of the statistical community, recognizing that the production of sound statistics for measuring progress is a global responsibility, established the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the twenty-first century (PARIS21) to strengthen statistical capacity at all levels. In 2000 the United Nations millennium summit called on all countries to work toward a quantified, time-bound set of development targets, which became the millennium development goals (MDG). In the five years since the millennium summit, the idea of working toward specific goals has evolved into a general strategy of managing for development results. Countries are reporting on progress toward the MDG and monitoring their own results using a variety of economic and social indicators. Bilateral and multilateral development agencies are incorporating results into their own management planning and evaluation systems and using new indicators to set targets for harmonizing their joint work programs. All of these efforts depend on statistics.
1,131 citations
1 Apr 2007
TL;DR: This year the preliminary results of the international comparison program are being released, providing new comparisons of price levels for more than 140 countries as mentioned in this paper, which is a salutary example of what can be accomplished through global partnership, technical innovation, and systematic attention to building local statistical capacity.
Abstract: This year the preliminary results of the international comparison program are being released, providing new comparisons of price levels for more than 140 countries The program, the largest single data collection effort ever undertaken, is a salutary example of what can be accomplished through global partnership, technical innovation, and systematic attention to building local statistical capacity Along with censuses, surveys are a major source of development statistics In 2005 the international household survey network was formed to coordinate activities and provide tools for documenting and archiving surveys, thus ensuring that investments in surveys will continue to pay dividends into the future All of these are important steps in building national and international statistical systems that respond to the demand for evidence to guide development But more remains to be done, and the need is urgent The challenges to us, national and international statisticians, donors, data users, and everyone concerned with measuring results, are threefold: a) how to accelerate investment in statistics; b) how to produce statistics that meet the needs of users; and c) how to harmonize donor efforts in support of developing countries as they build their statistical systems
618 citations
TL;DR: Five major challenges to providing safe water and sanitation on a global basis are reviewed: contamination of water in distribution systems, growing water scarcity and the potential for water reuse and conservation, implementing innovative low-cost sanitation systems, providing sustainable water supplies and sanitation for megacities, and reducing global and regional disparities in access toWater and sanitation.
Abstract: The year 2005 marks the beginning of the "International Decade for Action: Water for Life" and renewed effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) to reduce by half the proportion of the world's population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015. Currently, UNICEF and WHO estimate that 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water supplies and 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation. Providing safe water and basic sanitation to meet the MDGs will require substantial economic resources, sustainable technological solutions and courageous political will. We review five major challenges to providing safe water and sanitation on a global basis: (1) contamination of water in distribution systems, (2) growing water scarcity and the potential for water reuse and conservation, (3) implementing innovative low-cost sanitation systems, (4) providing sustainable water supplies and sanitation for megacities, and (5) reducing global and regional disparities in access to water and sanitation and developing financially sustainable water and sanitation services.
478 citations
TL;DR: A literature review of small-scale private service providers (SPSPs) of water supply and electricity conducted over a six-month period in 2003 is presented in this paper, which summarizes the key findings and conclusions of a literature review.
Abstract: This paper summarizes the key findings and conclusions of a literature review of small-scale private service providers (SPSPs) of water supply and electricity conducted over a six-month period in 2003. It draws on more than 400 documents-including journals, articles, reports, case studies and project reports-which have been disaggregated and referenced in a publicly available database. SPSPs appear most prevalent in countries with low coverage levels, ineffective public utilities that provide inadequate or partial services, and remote, difficult-to-access regions. SPSPs are especially prevalent in post-conflict countries and others with weak or failed states. Of the countries for which evidence of SPSPs was available, at least half fall into this category. SPSP provision of networked services appears to be significantly higher for electricity than for water supply. Most SPSPs identified through the literature are single-purpose entities established for the express purpose of delivering water supply or electricity. SPSPs take a variety of organizational forms, both for-profit and non-profit. As such, they are established for a variety of reasons, including: to meet consumer demand, respond to crises, or as part of larger business ventures. The technology used may extend upstream from distribution services to the means for producing or generating water supply or electricity, so capital needs vary accordingly. The majority of SPSPs have fewer than 50 employees and usually fewer than 10. A lack of affordable financing is a constraint for most SPSPs, which fund investments mainly through their own earnings and savings, loans from friends and family, and money borrowed from formal and informal lenders.
196 citations
TL;DR: The criterion used by the MDG indicator to determine whether a water source is safe can lead to substantial overestimates of the population with access to safe drinking-water and, consequently, also overestimates the progress made towards the 2015 MDG target.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine how data on water source quality affect assessments of progress towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target on access to safe drinking-water. METHODS: Data from five countries on whether drinking-water sources complied with World Health Organization water quality guidelines on contamination with thermotolerant coliform bacteria, arsenic, fluoride and nitrates in 2004 and 2005 were obtained from the Rapid Assessment of Drinking-Water Quality project. These data were used to adjust estimates of the proportion of the population with access to safe drinking-water at the MDG baseline in 1990 and in 2008 made by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, which classified all improved sources as safe. FINDINGS: Taking account of data on water source quality resulted in substantially lower estimates of the percentage of the population with access to safe drinking-water in 2008 in four of the five study countries: the absolute reduction was 11% in Ethiopia, 16% in Nicaragua, 15% in Nigeria and 7% in Tajikistan. There was only a slight reduction in Jordan. Microbial contamination was more common than chemical contamination. CONCLUSION: The criterion used by the MDG indicator to determine whether a water source is safe can lead to substantial overestimates of the population with access to safe drinking-water and, consequently, also overestimates the progress made towards the 2015 MDG target. Monitoring drinking-water supplies by recording both access to water sources and their safety would be a substantial improvement.
192 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2018 | 12 |
| 2017 | 19 |
| 2016 | 19 |