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How can the safety of drinking-water be monitored globally? What definitions would be meaningful and assist decision-makers in the process of improving the drinking-water situation in the world? What research and development efforts are needed to come up with a rapid, reliable and cost-effective way of measuring water quality indicators locally and reporting on them at the global level. Since the decision in 2000 to adopt a method based on nationally representative household surveys, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) has explored options to report on the safety of drinking-water supplies. In this connection, between 2002 and 2008 the rapid assessment of drinking-water quality (RADWQ) project was designed, implemented and documented in a number of pilot countries where the quality of drinking-water from improved sources was evaluated. [authors abstract of the project]

TitleRapid assessment of drinkingwater quality in the federal democratic republic of Ethiopia : country report of the pilot project implementation in 2004-2005
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsTadesse, D, Desta, A, Geyid, A, Girma, W, Fisseha, S, Schmoll, O
Paginationxi, 73 p.; 3 fig.; 32 tab.
Date Published2010-01-01
PublisherWorld Health Organization (WHO)
Place PublishedGeneva, Switzerland
ISSN Number9789241596343
Keywordsdrinking water, ethiopia, statistics, water quality, who/unicef joint monitoring programme
Abstract

During 2004 - 2005, the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, together with five other countries, participated in a World Health Organization/United Nations Children’s Fund (WHO/UNICEF) pilot project to test the methodology for a Rapid Assessment of Drinking-Water Quality (RADWQ). The purpose was to test a tool to help the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) monitor access to safe drinking-water globally. The RADWQ methodology is based on the UNICEF Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys. It uses a cluster sampling approach to select, across an entire country, individual drinking-water sources to be tested for selected parameters. The number and type of parameters to be
measured depend on the extent of the survey and on local potential health hazards. The output of a RADWQ survey is a snapshot of the drinking-water quality at each improved source tested.Using the RADWQ methodology, 1815 sample sites in 64 clusters were visited by four field teams over a period of five months (December 2004 to April 2005). The total sample size was split over four broad areas and over four improved supply technologies (i.e. utility piped supplies, boreholes, protected dug wells and protected springs), each serving more than 5% of the total Ethiopian population. The surveys took place in the regional states or cities of Addis Ababa, Amhara, Dire Dawa, Oromiya, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, Somali and Tigray. Using portable field kits, water was analysed for the following parameters: thermotolerant coliforms, faecal streptococci, pH, turbidity, chlorine residual, appearance, conductivity, arsenic, nitrate, fluoride, and iron. In addition, 10% of the total number of household samples was analysed for the deterioration of water quality during distribution and storage. Sanitary inspections were also carried out at each of the 1815 sample sites, using standardized questionnaires. [authors abstract]

Notes

With bibliography on p. 45 - 46

Custom 1

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