An assessment of service level of household toilet attributes based on the users’ satisfaction in rural Bihar, India

Abstract

The performance and improvement of sanitation services in developing countries including India is usually monitored using the parameter ‘availability of household toilets’ and the tool ‘sanitation ladder’ which is defined using different excreta disposal systems. These assessment criteria are developed from the perspective of experts’ rather than users’ perspective and take into consideration only a few attributes which mask the quality of several other attributes of toilets which are essential for the functionality and sustained use of toilets. The current study determines appropriate level of service (LOS) scales/ranges for different aspects of household toilets from users’ perspective using the concept of LOS and applies the same to analyze the quality of service of attributes of household toilets specified in sanitation programs. While LOS scale for quantitative attributes is directly determined through successive interval scaling technique, the LOS scale for qualitative attributes is developed by obtaining a quantitative score for qualitative data using RIDIT analysis and then employing the successive interval scaling technique. This study has found that the LOS of some of the attributes specified under sanitation program is below acceptable LOS (LOS C) which requires improvement.