Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
Survey Design Workshop
Household Questionnaire:
Water and Sanitation
MICS4 Survey Design Workshop
Goals and Indicators
MDG 7 Target 7C:
• Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation
MICS Indicators:
• # 4.1 – Use of improved drinking water sources
Proportion of population that uses an improved
source of drinking water [MDG # 7.8]
• # 4.3 – Use of improved sanitation Proportion of
population that uses an improved sanitation facility
which is not shared [MDG # 7.9]
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‘improved’ means….
An improved drinking water source is:
“a source that by nature of its construction is
adequately protected from outside
contamination in particular with fecal matter”
An improved sanitation facility:
“ a facility that hygienically separates human
waste from human contact”
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MDG definitions = MICS response categories
Unprotected dug well
Unprotected spring
Tanker truck
Cart with small tank/drum
Surface water (river, stream, dam, lake, pond,
canal, irrigation channel)
 Bottled water*
UN-IMPROVED
Piped into dwelling, compound, yard or plot
Piped to neighbour
Public tap/standpipe
Tube well/Borehole
Protected dug well
Protected spring
Rainwater collection
Sanitation facilities
IMPROVED
Drinking water sources (incl. delivery points)
Flush/Pour flush to:
 piped sewer system
 septic tank
 pit latrine
Ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine
Pit latrine with slab
Composting toilet
 Flush/Pour flush to elsewhere
 Pit latrine without slab/Open pit
 Bucket
 Hanging toilet/Hanging latrine
 Shared sanitation of any type
 No facilities, bush or field
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Customizing Water and Sanitation module
or changing of response categories
Please don’t…….
But if you have to:
- Introduce sub-response categories
- Request an exact definition of new (sub-) categories
- Seek advice from RO/HQ
- Maintain comparability with standard response
categories
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Response categories to avoid
Drinking water
• Piped (use: piped into dwelling/yard and public tap)
• Well (use improved-/unimproved dug well)
• Spring (use improved-/unimproved spring)
Sanitation
• Latrine
• Traditional latrine (use pit latrine with-/without slab)
• Pit latrine
• Pit
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Background documentation
• Core Questions on Water and Sanitation for
Household Surveys
http://wssinfo.org/pdf/WHO_2008_Core_Questions.pdf
– Detailed definitions and explanations of standard response
categories
• Pictorials for Water and Sanitation Facilities
http://www.childinfo.org/files/JMP_Pictorials_for_Water_and_Sanitation.pdf
– Drawings of improved and unimproved facilities
– Useful for training interviewers
• MICS Manual
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Main questions and purpose
• WS1: What is the main source of drinking
water for members of your household?
• WS8: What kind of toilet facility do members
of your household usually use?
Note: both questions seek information on
use rather than on access!
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Special case
• WS1 Response: Bottled water
– Additional question (WS2) to determine use of
another source for HH purposes
– Objective is to capture the real source of “drinking
water” which includes water for:
• Ingestion
• Food preparation
• Basic personal hygiene
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Other drinking water questions
– WS3 and WS4: Location of source and time-to-source
• WS3: Where is that water source located?
• If drinking water source is not on premises:
– WS4: How long does it take to go there, get water, and come back?
• Rationale: If roundtrip >30 minutes, people compromise on their
minimum daily water requirement by collecting less water
• Is an indicator for both distance and volume of water collected
– WS5: Who usually goes to this source to collect the water
for your household?
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MICS4 Indicators
– WS6 and WS7: Household water treatment
practices
• Multiple responses possible
• Purpose: determine if people apply any home
treatment to their drinking water and if so, what
methods are used.
#4.2 - Water Treatment
– Number of household members using unimproved
drinking water that has been appropriately treated:
boiling; adding bleach or chlorine; using a water filter; or
using solar disinfection (WS7=A, B, D, E)
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Other sanitation questions
– WS9: Do you share this facility with others who
are not members of your household?
– WS10 and WS11
• Rationale:
– Shared or public facilities are considered unimproved
– WS10 used to distinguish shared from public facilities
– WS11 used to distinguish shared between a few households
from shared between many households
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Analysis
• Use of improved water sources
– Population using an improved drinking water
• Household water treatment
– Population according to drinking water treatment method and
whether an appropriate water treatment method is used by the
source of drinking water
• Time to source of water
– Households according to time to go to source of drinking water, get
water and return, and mean time to source of drinking water
• Person collecting water
– Households according to the person collecting drinking water used in
the household
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Analysis
• Use of sanitary means of excreta disposal
– Population using an improved sanitation
• Shared use of sanitation facilities
– Population using an improved type of sanitation facility
shared between two or more households
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For questions or when in doubt………..
Please contact:
1) MICS-team NYHQ
2) DPP/SMS Monitoring Specialist Water and
Sanitation:
Rolf Luyendijk: rluyendijk@unicef.org
MICS4 Survey Design Workshop