Schools with Access to Improved Drinking Water Sources

Definition: Proportion of schools (including pre-primary, primary and secondary) with drinking water from an improved water source available at the school Improved: The main drinking water source is of an “improved” type. An “improved” drinking water source is one that, by the nature of its construction, adequately protects the source from outside contamination, particularly faecal matter (JMP definition). “Improved” water sources in a school setting include: piped, protected well/spring (including boreholes/tubewells, protected dug wells and protected springs), rainwater catchment, and packaged or delivered water. “Unimproved” sources include: unprotected well/spring, and surface water (e.g. lake, river, stream, pond, canals, irrigation ditches) or any other source where water is not protected from the outside environment. Available: There is water from the main drinking water source available at the school on the day of the survey or questionnaire.

Question W1 aims to determine the type of the school’s main source of drinking water. This serves as a proxy for whether the school’s drinking water is safe, providing an estimate at a much lower monitoring cost than direct water testing would require. The recommended categories are based on JMP definitions of “improved” and “unimproved” water sources.
Based on the SDG focus beyond infrastructure to consideration of service provision, Question W2 asks about the availability of water on the day of the survey or questionnaire. The day of data collection serves as a proxy for water availability on a typical day (when averaged over all schools) and limits response bias by asking about a specific moment in time. These two questions are sufficient to calculate “basic” water service in schools.

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND ANSWERS (A)

QW1 What is the main source of drinking water provided by the school (check one - most frequently used)
Response options should be modified to reflect the local context and terminology so that respondents are able to clearly understand each one, and they are able to be categorised as improved, unimproved, or no water source. If interested in monitoring whether or not children bring drinking water from home as an interim step to water provision at schools, an additional option "children bring water from home" could be added - this would be considered as "no water source":
Piped water supply / protected well/spring / rainwater / unprotected well/spring / packaged bottled water / tanker-truck or cart / surface water (lake, river, stream etc) / no water source
QW2: is drinking water from the main source currently available at the school - to be considered available, water should be available at the school at the time of the survey, either from the main source directly, or stored water originally from the main source
Response options: yes / no