Improving water supply and sanitation in poor countries is essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reducing poverty. What lessons to help meet this challenge can be learnt from a recent survey of water and sanitation in Kazakhstan?

Research from the University of Nottingham in the UK and the United Nations Development Programme in Kazakhstan reports the findings of a water and sanitation survey carried out in Kazakhstan in 2005.

Target ten of Goal seven of the MDGs is to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, compared with the situation in 1990. Access to clean water and proper sanitation will also be central to meeting MDG targets on reducing poverty and infant mortality.

However, concerns have been raised over the way Target 10 is measured and monitored. The researchers use information from the Kazakhstan survey, which was designed to assess the current level of access to clean water and to provide a baseline for Target 10, to explore some of these concerns.

Official figures tend to provide an unreliable picture of access to water and sanitation, overestimating the number of people who have access. The problem lies in how access is defined and the way data is collected.

Using the MDG definition of access to water, the Kazakhstan survey shows that over 90 percent of the population has access to safe water (either in their homes or nearby). In many cases, however, the source or distribution system has failed, meaning there is no access at all. This is not reflected in official figures. Additionally, when factors such as difficulty in obtaining water and the reliability and quality of water are taken into account, the figure falls to just 27 percent. The research also reveals marked regional variations.

Other findings from the Kazakhstan survey include:

• Although most people have a water source nearby (less than 1,000 metres away), extreme weather conditions often make getting water difficult.
• Most people who have access to water considered to be safe report problems of declining water quality and supply interruptions.
• The economic and social crisis in Kazakhstan during the early years of transition from communism led to a significant deterioration in the country’s water supply and sanitation system.
• This decline has been masked by the way access is defined and the way official statistics are collected and monitored.

Such situations are unlikely to be unique to Kazakhstan. Target 10 will only promote progress if it is set at an appropriate standard for each country. The Kazakhstan survey gives an accurate picture of the current level of access, providing a baseline from which to plan investment priorities and measure progress.

Key lessons include:

• In the MDG definition of access to safe water, maximum distance to source should reflect the specific circumstances in each country (such as climate and terrain).
• The definition should also take account of the full nature of access, including the number of people who rely on a source, supply security and water quality.
• Governments need to improve the way they collect and monitor data.
• 1990 is not an appropriate baseline year for some countries, including Kazakhstan.

Source(s):
‘Assessing Access to Safe Water and Monitoring Progress on MDG7 target 10 (access to Safe Water and Basic Sanitation): Lessons from Kazakhstan’, Water Policy 10, pages 1-24, by Sarah O’Hara, Tim Hannan and Maria Genina, 2008

Funded by: Government of Norway, UK Department for International Development, United Nations Development Programme

id21 Research Highlight: 27 February 2008

Further Information:
Sarah O’Hara
School of Geography
University of Nottingham
Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

Tel: +44 115 9514381
Fax: +44 115 9515249
Contact the contributor: Sarah.O'hara@nottingham.ac.uk 

School of Geography, University of Nottingham, UK

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