The following is a Letter to the Editor by the Government’s Chief Statistician Aliimuamua Malaefono.Tauā-Ta’aloga Fa’asalaina to correct the misinformation contained in the front page article by Samoa Observer, headlined ‘ Nearly Half of Households’ water contaminated: study.”
It was published on Monday 17th August 2020 and written by Reporter Soli Wilson.
18th August 2020
To the Editor
Samoa Observer Newspaper
Apia
RE: Front Page Article headlined “Nearly Half of households’ water contaminated” Study
The Samoa Bureau of Statistics wishes to clarify the correct interpretation of the statistical indicators pertaining to Water, sanitation and hygiene, as indicated in the Fact Sheet of the Samoa Demographic Health Survey and the Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey 2019-20, as reported by the Samoa Observer on their front page on the 17th of August 2020 issue.
The report is available on SBS website at www.sbs.gov.ws
Firstly, the survey was conducted from October 2019 to January 2020 and it selected 3,675 households.
Secondly, it is noted in the report (page 3) that the number of sampled households which have been interviewed to test the drinking water quality was only 696 households.
This is about 2% of 28,880 households at the time of the survey.
Of this total 69.8% (486) had water from the SWA (both treated and untreated), 17.4% (121) had their water from the Independent Water Scheme and 12.8% (89) had water from other sources such as well/spring, stored rainwater, etc.
Thirdly, the Water quality test was conducted from the drinking water used at home, and not at any water catchment or actual source of water.
Therefore, the presence of E.coli could be due to the actual source of water or water storage at home or water leakages or any other contributing factor.
The test is a standard tool that is used by UNICEF for household surveys and is technically sound.
Members from the Water Sector have all been part of the training for this household survey. We have the Manual for this test for further clarification.
Finally, the result in question (47 percent of households had faecal contamination in their drinking water) is a total value that represents the breakdown of 4 categories of E.coli (Low, Moderate, High and Very high levels of E.coli).
The breakdown is as followed:
Households with Low counts of E.coli (<1 per 100 ml of water) = 53%
Households with Moderate counts of E.coli (1-10 per 100 ml of water) = 17.9%
Households with High counts of E.coli (11-100 per 100 ml of water) = 15.4%
Households with Very High counts of E.coli (> 100 per 100 ml of water) = 13.7%
The last three categories (moderate to very high) added up to 47% that you have reported hence missing out all the important clarifications as stated above.
The detailed analysis for this survey will be disseminated in due course.
The media is most welcome to get clarification before they offered their own interpretation of statistics and data to ensure that the public is well informed of the facts and mainly the clarification of survey findings.
Faia ma le ava tele,
Aliimuamua Malaefono Tauā-Ta’aloga Fa’asalaina
Government Chief Statistician
