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The purpose of this indicator is to ensure public health beyond the household level; this indicator incorporates the safe management of fecal waste along the entire sanitation chain, from containment to final treatment and disposal, and serves as a multi-purpose indicator contributing to indicator 6.3.1 on wastewater treatment.

The proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services, including a hand-washing facility with soap and water is currently being measured by the proportion of the population using a basic sanitation facility which is not shared with other households and where excreta is safely disposed in situ or treated off-site. ‘Improved’ sanitation facilities include: flush or pour flush toilets to sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines, ventilated improved pit latrines, pit latrines with a slab, and composting toilets.

BWS/SIB

BWS/SIB

Biennial

Percentage (%)

MDG target 7C called for ‘sustainable access’ to ‘basic sanitation’. The JMP developed the metric of use of ‘improved’ sanitation facilities, which are likely to hygienically separate human excreta from human contact and has used this indicator to track progress towards the MDG target since 2000. International consultations since 2011 have established consensus on the need to build on and address the shortcomings of this indicator; specifically, to address normative criteria of the human right to water including accessibility, acceptability, and safety. Furthermore, the safe management of fecal wastes should be considered, as discharges of untreated wastewater into the environment create public health hazards.

Improved sanitation facilities include the following: flush or pour flush toilets to sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines, ventilated improved pit latrines, pit latrines with a slab, and composting toilets.

Safely disposed in situ; when pit latrines and septic tanks are not emptied, the excreta may still remain isolated from human contact and can be considered safely managed. For example, with the new SDG indicator, households that use twin pit latrines or safely abandon full pit latrines and dig new facilities, a common practice in rural areas, would be counted as using safely managed sanitation services.

Treated offsite; not all excreta from toilet facilities conveyed in sewers (as wastewater) or emptied from pit latrines and septic tanks (as faecal sludge) reaches a treatment site. For instance, a portion may leak from the sewer itself or, due to broken pumping installations, be discharged directly to the environment. Similarly, a portion of the faecal sludge emptied from containers may be discharged into open drains, to open ground or water bodies, rather than being transported to a treatment plant. And finally, even once the excreta reaches a treatment plant a portion may remain untreated, due to dysfunctional treatment equipment or inadequate treatment capacity, and be discharged to the environment. For the purposes of SDG monitoring, adequacy of treatment will initially be assessed based on the reported level of treatment.

A handwashing facility with soap and water: a handwashing facility is a device to contain, transport or regulate the flow of water to facilitate handwashing. This indicator is a proxy of actual handwashing practice, which has been found to be more accurate than other proxies such as self-reports of handwashing practices. 

Disaggregation by place of residence (urban/rural) and socioeconomic status (wealth, affordability) is possible for all countries. Disaggregation by other stratifies of inequality (subnational, gender, disadvantaged groups, etc.) will be made where data permit. Sanitation services will be disaggregated by service level (including no services, basic, and safely managed services) following the JMP sanitation ladder.

The percentage of the population using safely managed sanitation services is calculated by combining data on the proportion of the population using different types of basic sanitation facilities with estimates of the proportion of fecal waste which is safely disposed in situ or treated off-site.

This indicator can be used to measure the population using safely managed sanitation services and serves to help contribute to improved sanitation services.

This framework has served as the basis for indicators 6.2.1 and 6.3.1. Data on safe disposal and treatment are not available for all countries.

A framework for measuring faecal waste flows and safety factors has been developed and piloted in 12 countries (World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, 2014), and is being adopted and scaled up within the sanitation sector.

All the metadata shown was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.