Improved water source

[1] The term was coined by the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation of UNICEF and WHO in 2002 to help monitor the progress towards Goal Number 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The same terms are used to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Target 6.1, Indicator 6.1.1) from 2015 onwards.

Indicator 6.1.1 of SDG 6 is "Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services".

This is defined as the drinking water coming from an improved source, and provided the collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip.

[2] Service levels are defined as (from lowest to highest): Surface water, unimproved, limited, basic, safely managed.