Report Date: September 2021

Bangladesh has made remarkable progress towards achieving its goal of universal access to improved drinking water sources to 98.5 percent. At the same time, only 42.6 percent of the population have access to a drinking water source that is on-premises, available when needed, arsenic-safe, and free from microbial contamination. The Government of Bangladesh has made clear its commitment to ‘Ensuring sustainable use and availability of safe water for drinking for all urban and rural population of Bangladesh’ in its 8th Five Year plan for the period of July 2020 to June 2025. Investments by government and development partners have ensured that an additional 65 million people gained access to improved water sources between 1990 and 2015. Though there has been laudable progress, some challenges remain. The water quality testing and survey was carried out in 2019 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in collaboration with UNICEF and icddr,b, as part of the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). Based on MICS 2019, the Water Quality Thematic Report provides evidence of critical aspects of arsenic and fecal contamination (Escherichia coli or E.coli) of water supply and drinking water at the division and district levels. This publication presents information on arsenic and fecal contamination of drinking water at the source and household level. It also provides relevant insights using the equity lens to examine the disparities between districts by key variables such as education, socioeconomic status as well as household water treatment and storage practices. The MICS 2012-13 Water Quality Thematic Report published in 2018 was the first of its kind in Bangladesh, and in this second Water Quality Thematic Report, it is now possible to track where improvements are happening and identify areas where more actions are needed.