Timor-Leste Population and Housing Census 2022
The Population and Housing Census 2022 is the fourth census to be conducted since independence in 2002 and the first-ever digital census for Timor-Leste. In the census, a question was asked about the household’s primary source of drinking water to measure the availability of safe drinking water to the household. For sanitation aspect, three questions were related to the toilet facilities: 1) type of toilet, 2) waste disposal, and 3) whether or not others share the toilet.
3.6.3 Drinking water
In the census, a question was asked about the household’s primary source of drinking water to measure the availability of safe drinking water to the household. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation uses a specific classification to classify safe drinking water services (United Nations, 2023). The criteria to classify drinking water services are ‘improved’ or ‘unimproved’ type of drinking water sources, accessibility of drinking water on the premises, the time required to collect drinking water, including queueing, the availability of water if needed and absence of contamination. For this report, improved or unimproved drinking water sources are the most mportant. An improved drinking water source can deliver safe water through its design or construction. The following types of water supplies are considered a source of improved drinking water: piped supplies and non-piped supplies (such as boreholes, protected wells and springs, rainwater, and packaged or delivered water, e.g. by tanker trucks). Unimproved water sources do not protect against bacterial and chemical contamination. These sources include rivers, streams, irrigation channels and lakes.
