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UNICEF Press Release

20 December 2011

Millennium Development Goal On Drinking Water 'Almost There' - Unicef/WHO Report

Geneva — UNICEF and the World Health Organization today release a report showing that the Millennium Development Goal of improving access to safe drinking water will likely be achieved considerably ahead of the 2015 target date.

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According to the report, there are many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia, Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia that are not on track to meet the target despite progress.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, total access has significantly increased since 1990, jumping from 49 per cent to 60 per cent, and reaching an additional 126 million people in urban and 111 million in rural areas. However, population growth has outstripped the progress to the extent that the actual number of people without access was greater in 2008 than it was in 1990.

The report found that the richest 20 per cent in Sub-Saharan African countries are more than twice as likely to use an improved drinking water source as the poorest 20 per cent. In addition, poor people in rural areas have the lowest access to safe drinking water, with the greatest burden in collecting water falling to women and girls.

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The report says that even when there is access to water, it is often not safe for drinking. Water quality surveys show that many improved drinking water sources - such as piped supplies, boreholes and protected wells - do not conform to WHO guidelines. On average, half of all protected dug wells may be contaminated, along with one-third of protected springs and boreholes.