Monitoring of progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)\r\ndrinking water target relies on classification of water sources as ââ?¬Å?improvedââ?¬Â or\r\nââ?¬Å?unimprovedââ?¬Â as an indicator for water safety. We adjust the current Joint Monitoring\r\nProgramme (JMP) estimate by accounting for microbial water quality and sanitary risk\r\nusing the only-nationally representative water quality data currently available, that from\r\nthe WHO and UNICEF ââ?¬Å?Rapid Assessment of Drinking Water Qualityââ?¬Â. A principal\r\ncomponents analysis (PCA) of national environmental and development indicators was\r\nused to create models that predicted, for most countries, the proportions of piped and of\r\nother-improved water supplies that are faecally contaminated; and of these sources, the\r\nproportions that lack basic sanitary protection against contamination. We estimate that\r\n1.8 billion people (28% of the global population) used unsafe water in 2010. The 2010\r\nJMP estimate is that 783 million people (11%) use unimproved sources. Our estimates\r\nrevise the 1990 baseline from 23% to 37%, and the target from 12% to 18%, resulting in a\r\nshortfall of 10% of the global population towards the MDG target in 2010. In contrast,\r\nusing the indicator ââ?¬Å?use of an improved sourceââ?¬Â suggests that the MDG target for drinkingwater\r\nhas already been achieved. We estimate that an additional 1.2 billion (18%) use\r\nwater from sources or systems with significant sanitary risks. While our estimate is\r\nimprecise, the magnitude of the estimate and the health and development implications\r\nsuggest that greater attention is needed to better understand and manage drinking\r\nwater safety.
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