Integrating water-quality analysis in national household surveys: water and sanitation sector learnings of Ecuador

To respond to the global Sustainable Development Goals framework, Ecuador through the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) has been strengthening its monitoring system since 2016, specifically on SDG 6.1 and 6.2. The World Bank Group, UNICEF Ecuador Country Office and WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme provided initial support. Additional parameters were included in household surveys, including a water sample analysis to detect presence or absence of E. coli bacteria, and the SDG indicators were adapted to the national context. Ecuador collected water-quality data in two national household surveys in 2016 and 2019, including water quality at household's point of consumption for the 2019 survey. This opens opportunities to extend the analysis beyond access to safely managed drinking water services, toward comparison of water quality between source and point of consumption, and analyzing correlations with other parameters, such as handwashing with soap, water treatment, and safe storage and open defecation. This article describes the principal findings of the extended analysis carried out by INEC, as well as the opportunities to present the results for sector advocacy and decision-making purposes. This study concludes that alignment of the national monitoring systems to the SDG 6.1 framework provided strong evidence that water quality is the principal bottleneck in the water sector in Ecuador. Water-quality testing at the point of consumption was evidenced, as well as the importance of household water treatment and possible effects of other hygiene practices like handwashing with soap and open defecation on water quality at the point of consumption.