Abstract
National drinking water programs seek to address monitoring challenges that include self-reporting, data sampling, data consistency and quality, and sufficient frequency to assess the sustainability of water systems. India stands out for its comprehensive rural water database known as Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), which conducts annual monitoring of drinking water coverage, water quality, and related program components from the habitation level to the district, state, and national levels. The objective of this paper is to evaluate IMIS as a national rural water supply monitoring platform. This is important because IMIS is the official government database for rural water in India, and it is used to allocate resources and track the results of government policies. After putting India's IMIS database in an international context, the paper describes its detailed structure and content. It then illustrates the geographic patterns of water supply and water quality that IMIS can present, as well as data analysis issues that were identified. In particular, the fifth section of the paper identifies limitations on the use of state-level data for explanatory regression analysis. These limitations lead to recommendations for improving data analysis to support national rural water monitoring and evaluation, along with strategic approaches to data quality assurance, data access, and database functionality.
Highlights
Monitoring rural water coverage and quality at the national level poses challenges for all countries
National monitoring of rural access to drinking water has faced a number of systematic challenges since the 1977 Mar de la Plata Action Plan, which led to an emphasis on monitoring during the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade from 1981 to 1990
In descriptive terms, the Information System (IMIS) database helps monitor advances in national and state water coverage, and related water source, scheme, and sustainability variables. This analysis highlights the need for much greater emphasis on water quality monitoring
Summary
Monitoring rural water coverage and quality at the national level poses challenges for all countries. The JMP developed standardized survey instruments and common methods for reporting water and sanitation data discrepancies. Using these methods, India reported increases in rural access to safe drinking water from 64% in 1990 to 76.1% in 2000 and 90.7% in 2012 (WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 2015). The JMP developed common questionnaires and methods for compiling national and international datasets to estimate progress toward drinking water coverage goals (WHO and UNICEF, 2006). The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), supported by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, has a strong emphasis on monitoring (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), 2014; Schouten, 2015). The IBNET water utility benchmarking database, initiated by the World Bank, provides information on a large and growing number of cities, in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, but not for rural areas, or for all cities in a country (World Bank, 2015)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
