Institute of Water Policy Staff Papers 2011

Drinking Water and Sanitation Access in China: Data and Evaluation

61 Drinking฀Water฀and฀Sanitation฀ Access฀in฀China:฀ Data฀and฀Evaluation Fan฀Mingxuan* This฀ paper฀ briefly฀ introduces฀ the฀ Joint฀ Monitoring฀ Programme’s฀ (JMP)฀ method฀ for฀ estimating฀ the฀ progress฀ of฀ Millennium฀ Development฀ Goals฀ (MDG)฀ on฀ water฀ and฀ sanitation฀ in฀ China.฀ It฀ evaluates฀ the฀ datasets฀ used,฀ compares฀ the฀ indictors฀ in฀ all฀ the฀ datasets฀with฀JMP’s฀definition฀and฀challenges฀the฀assumptions฀made฀ in฀ the฀ estimation฀ process.฀ The฀ national฀ estimates฀ on฀ the฀ progress฀ towards฀ China’s฀ own฀ drinking฀ water฀ and฀ sanitation฀ targets฀ are฀ then฀presented,฀followed฀by฀the฀paper฀provides฀concluding฀notes฀and฀ observations.฀ 1.฀ Monitoring฀the฀Millennium฀Development฀Goals Millennium฀Development฀Goals฀(MDG)฀Target฀7฀calls฀on฀countries฀to฀ “halve,฀by฀2015,฀the฀proportion฀of฀people฀without฀sustainable฀access฀to฀ safe฀drinking-water฀and฀basic฀sanitation”.฀The฀official฀MDG฀indicators฀ to฀ measure฀ and฀ report฀ progress฀ for฀ this฀ target฀ are฀ “the฀ proportion฀ of฀ population฀using฀an฀improved฀drinking฀water฀source,฀urban฀and฀rural”฀ and฀“the฀proportion฀of฀population฀using฀an฀improved฀sanitation฀facility,฀ urban฀and฀rural”.฀ Based฀on฀the฀Joint฀Monitoring฀Programme’s฀(JMP)฀most฀recent฀ estimation,฀the฀proportion฀of฀population฀using฀improved฀water฀sources฀ *฀ Research฀ Associate,฀ Institute฀ of฀ Water฀ Policy,฀ Lee฀ Kuan฀ Yew฀ School฀ of฀ Public฀Policy,฀National฀University฀of฀Singapore.฀The฀author฀is฀grateful฀to฀ Professor฀Bhanoji฀Rao฀for฀his฀guidance. 04฀IWP฀Fan.indd฀฀฀61 6/7/11฀฀฀5:16:33฀PM Fan฀Mingxuan 62 in฀China฀was฀89%฀in฀2008,฀which฀has฀surpassed฀the฀target฀of฀84%฀set฀ for฀2015฀while฀55%฀of฀the฀population฀had฀access฀to฀improved฀sanitation,฀ and฀it฀is฀highly฀unlikely฀to฀achieve฀the฀target฀of฀71%฀on฀time฀(WHO฀ and฀UNICEF,฀2010). To฀provide฀the฀estimates,฀JMP฀collected฀20฀datasets฀from฀China’s฀ surveys฀and฀censuses฀between฀1989฀and฀2008.฀The฀various฀facilities฀in฀ each฀dataset฀were฀compared฀with฀JMP’s฀definitions฀and฀the฀percentages฀ of฀ population฀ using฀ the฀ facilities฀ that฀ qualified฀ as฀ improved฀ facilities฀ were฀ aggregated฀ to฀ form฀ the฀ data฀ point฀ for฀ the฀ year฀ in฀ which฀ the฀ survey/census฀took฀place.฀A฀total฀of฀15฀data฀points฀was฀used฀to฀estimate฀ the฀proportion฀of฀population฀with฀access฀to฀improved฀drinking฀water฀ sources฀in฀the฀urban฀areas฀and฀16฀for฀rural฀areas;฀to฀estimate฀access฀to฀ improved฀sanitation,฀6฀data฀points฀were฀for฀urban฀and฀7฀used฀for฀rural.฀ These฀data฀points฀were฀plotted฀and฀a฀trend฀line฀was฀drawn฀to฀provide฀ estimates฀for฀urban฀and฀rural฀access฀to฀improved฀drinking฀water฀and฀ sanitation.฀The฀total฀estimates฀are฀population฀weighted฀average฀of฀the฀ urban฀and฀rural฀numbers.฀The฀datasets฀and฀estimates฀are฀presented฀in฀ Annex฀1.฀ In฀the฀case฀of฀sanitation,฀the฀aggregated฀data฀points฀include฀not฀ only฀ the฀ access฀ rate฀ to฀ improved฀ sanitation฀ but฀ also฀ access฀ rate฀ to฀ BOX฀1 MDG฀Water฀and฀Sanitation฀Indicators Improved฀ drinking฀ water฀ refers฀ to฀ piped฀ water฀ to฀ dwelling,฀ piped฀ water฀ to฀ yard/plot,฀ public฀ tap฀ or฀ standpipe,฀ tubewell฀ or฀ borehole,฀ protected฀ dug฀ well,฀ protected฀spring,฀rainwater. Improved฀sanitation฀refers฀to฀flush฀toilet,฀piped฀sewer฀ system,฀ septic฀ tank,฀ flush/pour฀ flush฀ to฀ pit฀ latrine,฀ ventilated฀ improved฀ pit฀ latrine,฀ pit฀ latrine฀ with฀ slab,฀ compositing฀toilet฀and฀special฀case. Source:฀JMP 04฀IWP฀Fan.indd฀฀฀62 6/7/11฀฀฀5:16:33฀PM Drinking฀Water฀and฀Sanitation฀Access฀in฀China 63 shared฀facilities฀as฀the฀two฀were฀not฀differentiated฀in฀most฀of฀China’s฀ surveys/censuses.฀Therefore,฀the฀percentage฀of฀population฀with฀access฀ to฀ improved฀ plus฀ shared฀ sanitation฀ facilities฀ was฀ first฀ estimated฀ and฀ then฀adjusted฀to฀exclude฀the฀latter.฀In฀addition฀to฀“improved฀drinking฀ water฀ sources”฀ and฀“improved฀ sanitation”,฀ JMP฀ also฀ estimated฀ access฀ through฀“house฀connections”฀and฀“open฀defecation”฀to฀provide฀a฀more฀ comprehensive฀view. 2.฀ JMP’s฀Approach:฀An฀Evaluation In฀this฀session฀we฀will฀take฀a฀close฀look฀at฀the฀data฀sources,฀indicators฀ used฀in฀these฀datasets฀as฀compared฀to฀JMP’s฀definition฀as฀well฀as฀the฀ methods฀used฀for฀estimation.฀The฀likely฀issues฀which฀may฀compromise฀ the฀reliability฀of฀the฀estimation฀are฀also฀pointed฀out.฀ Data฀Sources฀ As฀ mentioned฀ earlier,฀ a฀ total฀ of฀ 20฀ datasets฀ were฀ collected฀ and฀ the฀ ones฀ that฀ were฀ used฀ for฀ estimation฀ are:฀ (1)฀ National฀ Child฀ Survey฀ (NMICS),฀ 1992;฀ (2)฀ National฀ Health฀ Services฀ Survey฀ (NHSS),฀ ฀ 1993,฀ 1998,฀ 2003฀ and฀ 2008;฀ (3)฀ Population฀ Sampling฀ Survey฀ (PSS),฀ 1999;฀(4)฀National฀Census฀(CEN)฀micro฀dataset,฀1991;฀(5)฀Agriculture฀ Census฀ (AC)฀ 2006,฀ which฀ is฀ for฀ estimation฀ on฀ rural฀ indicators฀ ฀ only;฀ (6)฀ Multi฀ Indicator฀ Cluster฀ Survey฀ (MICS),฀ 1995,฀ used฀ for฀ drinking฀ water฀ only;฀ and฀ (7)฀ Economic,฀ Population,฀ Nutrition,฀ and฀ Health฀ Survey...