The rights to water and sanitation are protected implicitly and explicitly by human rights law. Data on access to water and sanitation at the household level for many countries can be found through ICF-Macro’s Demographic and Health Surveys, UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, and the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study data repositories.
A number of NGOs and aid organizations have successfully crowdsourced water quality data using SMS text messages and “mWASH” apps, and mobile phones in order to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene services.
The Environmental Performance Index ranks countries’ performance on high-priority environmental issues in protection of human health and protection of ecosystems, which include access to water and sanitation.
The WASH Performance Index, maintained by the UNC School of Public Health, ranks countries based on water and sanitation performance by assessing performance in water access, water equity, sanitation access, and sanitation equity.
Global Health Observatory data brings together the main health data and statistics for each country, as compiled by WHO and its partners. It includes descriptive and analytical summaries of health indicators for major topics such as water, sanitation, and hygiene.