Context: The recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 provides with data regarding access to drinking water sources and sanitation facilities which are crucial to understand the present situation and plan ahead for improvement.
Interpreted data from NFHS-5 on Access to Drinking Water

• According to NFHS-5 in the past 5 years, Access to Improved Drinking Water Sources across all states and UTs (except Sikkim) has increased.
• A majority of the states are progressing towards achieving universal access to clean drinking water.
• Bihar showed the best results (with 99% of the population having access to improved drinking water sources) and – Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland witnessed significant improvement.
• Except Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and Ladakh, all other 17 states and UTs that were surveyed – recorded above 90 per cent population having access to improved sources of drinking water.
• Across all 22 surveyed states, urban residents had better access to improved drinking water sources in comparison to rural population.
• Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura and Maharashtra reported widest rural-urban disparity.
• Access to water facilities needed work in certain districts in the Northeastern states and Maharashtra.

Interpreted data from NFHS-5 on Sanitation Facility

• According to NFHS-5, despite progress on the sanitation front, several states reported every third or fourth person having no access to improved sanitation facilities. 
• Bihar recorded huge improvement in last five years in sanitation, but stood second-lowest among the 22 surveyed states.
• Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, Goa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands performed fairly well in terms of access to improved sanitation facilities.
• Mizoram, Kerala and Lakshadweep had good sanitation facilities.
• The rural-urban divide persists widely across several states.
• People residing in urban areas had a relatively higher access to unshared and quality sanitation facilities in a majority of the states except Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and Kerala, where urban population was more deprived.
• The highest rural-urban gap was observed in Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal and Karnataka.

What is regarded as ‘Improved Sources of Drinking water’ and ‘Improved Sanitation Facilities’?

• Improved sources of drinking water include piped water, public tap / standpipe, tube well or borehole, protected dug well, protected spring, rainwater, tanker truck, cart with small tank, bottled water and community reverse osmosis plant.
• Improved sanitation facilities include flush to piped sewer system; flush to septic tank; flush to pit latrine; ventilated improved pit / biogas latrine; pit latrine with slab; twin pit / composting toilet that is not shared with any other household.

Criticisms

• The NFHS-5 factsheet does not give any information on the distance of the improved water sources from the household, hence accessibility to drinking water sources in the true sense cannot be inferred directly.
• The NFHS-5 factsheet does not give information on prevalence of open defecation.
• The provided data on sanitation facilities challenges the government’s claim of achieving open-defecation free India.
• Several districts in Bihar, West Bengal, Northern Karnataka and Western parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat require special attention and decentralized programs to address the issue.

Road Ahead

• The United Nations-mandated sustainable development goal 6.1 aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.
• SDG 6.2 targets to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, pay special attention to the needs of women and girls and of those in vulnerable situations by 2030.
• The NFHS-5 Phase-I data demonstrates substantial improvement in access to clean water and improved sanitation facility. There is, however, a need to bridge the rural-urban divide.