This latest report by the WHO/UNICEF presents current status and trends in 209 countries towards reaching the drinking water & sanitation MDG target, along with an assessment as to what these trends reveal.

This report by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) confirms that advances continue to be made towards greater access to safe drinking-water. Progress in relation to access to basic sanitation is however insufficient to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation. The present report documents how much the world has changed in terms of the use of improved sanitation facilities and improved sources of drinking-water. The practice of open defecation is declining, but still too many people have no access to any kind of sanitation facilities. Piped water is reaching ever more households, but not yet all and often not reliably so. The challenge of assessing the safety of drinking-water from improved sources also needs to be addressed.

See Also:

Report: Water in a changing world
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/268841

Report: The millennium development goals report 2009
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/282390

Report: Planning for sustainable sanitation
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/278421

Report: Progress on drinking water and sanitation.
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/254629

Report: Rural water livelihoods index
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/295578

Report: Charting our water future
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/292097

Report: National urban sanitation policy
www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/node/261239