Index of Drinking Water Adequacy (IDWA): International and Intra-national Exploration

7. Concluding Notes

Concluding Notes 151 151 Concluding Notes Seetharam Kallidaikurichi E. and Bhanoji Rao The “concluding notes” are explicitly and implicitly suggested by the papers in this monograph. They refer to the need for data monitoring and possible and desirable fine-tuning of the MDG. At the end of this short note, two key messages are placed prominently to draw the attention of all concerned. Measuring Access to Water “Some goals cannot be met; others cannot even be measured…. And sometimes what is measured … is not what counts….” observed The Economist in a lead article on the Millennium Development Goals in the issue dated July 7, 2007. Given that the achievement of each MDG is an international commitment for the betterment of humanity at large, it is expected that due attention is given to proper conceptualization of the indicators that reflect MDG targets and achievements. The various agencies that publish the indicators on access to water and sanitation bring out almost identical numbers , as evidenced by the near unanimity in the values of the indicators in respect of the Asian developing member countries of ADB (Table 1). 7 152 Index of Drinking Water Adequacy (IDWA) Table 1: Illustrative Comparison of Indicators from ADB, UNICEF, World Bank and UN Comparing No. of DMC covered Difference if Any (A) ADB Key Indicators, Urban: 42 for water and 41 For India in A the 2006; and for sanitation in A and 40 data for urban and 39 in B. sanitation is given (B) UNICEF Progress Rural: 40 and 39 in A and as 54, while it is for Children, 2006 40 and 38 in B given as 59 in B. (A) World Bank Global For water – 29 in A and 40 Monitoring Report in B. 2007 and No difference (B) UN MDG Data Base For sanitation – 27 in A and 39 in B The fact that most international agencies are using the same indicators does not necessarily mean that the data are of good quality and reliability. This has been amply demonstrated by the Vietnamese case study in this volume. Data evaluation exercises do not seem to have been carried out at national/international levels, even sparingly if not routinely. That the current water access indicators are not quite reflective of what is desirable for the people’s lives is brought out neatly by the weak correlations between house connections and access rates across countries. More the house connections more should be access. Empirical reality is far from that. From the Water and Sanitation Information Website of the Joint Monitoring Program of WHO and UNICEF, for the Asia-Pacific countries, we could assemble, for one or more years between 1987 and 2003, data on the percentage of families served by house connections for water and sanitation. Juxtaposing this data to the average water and sanitation access rates for 1990 and 2004, correlation coefficients are obtained as shown in Table 2. Concluding Notes 153 Table 2: Correlations between House Connections and Access Rates (‘n’ refers to sample size) Urban Rural Water [n] 0.65 (22) 0.40 (20) Sanitation [n] 0.49 (19) 0.39 (16) The correlations indicate in general the relatively weak link between house connections and overall access rates. Two possible interpretations can be suggested. One is that it does not matter if a house connection is available or not for defining access. This may not be an acceptable proposition if one were to ensure the same idea and basket of goods and services to constitute development for one and all. Another and relatively more important interpretation of the correlations is that access estimates, since they are not fully reflective of the availability of house connections, must be treated as aggregations of diverse water/sanitation facilities, which may or may not be internally consistent and internationally comparable. House Connection Implies Having a House House connections for water and sanitation go beyond providing access; they indicate a minimum level of decent living. In order to provide for such a living standard, it is useful to specifically incorporate within the MDG Goal 7, Target 11, the target of “housing the homeless”, homeless being inclusive of those without proper housing, as part of the goal to provide sustainable and safe/good water and sanitation on an economically viable basis, with cross subsidization as needed. Key Messages 1. The international community has the obligation to ensure...