Improved water source
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
According to the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for water supply and sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:
- household connections
- public standpipes
- boreholes
- protected dug wells
- protected springs
- rainwater collection
Water sources that are not considered as "improved" are:
- unprotected dug wells
- unprotected springs
- vendor provided water
- Bottled water
- tanker
An “improved” source is one that is likely to provide "safe" water. The JMP cautions that "current information does not allow (...) to establish a relationship between access to safe water and access to improved sources." For example, bottled water in most cases is perfectly safe, though expensive. On the other hand, water from house connections, public standpipes are any other "improved" source can be contaminated due to source pollution, inexistent or inadequate treatment or recontamination in the distribution network. Furhermore, network supply is often intermittent in developing countries.
Despite these limitations, the above-mentioned definition of an "improved" sources is used to measure the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal related to drinking water supply in developing countries. Access to water supply services is defined as the availability of at least 20 litres per person per day from an "improved" source within 1 kilometre of the user's dwelling.
Source
