Mapping the Unseen: USAID’s New Data-Driven WASH Atlas Spotlights Those Left Behind

Improving access to safe water and basic sanitation remains one of the world’s best bets for unlocking a healthier, more resilient, and economically productive future for all. That’s why USAID is working to reach millions around the world with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) access, especially those communities too often excluded or left behind.

Turning this goal into reality, however,? is complicated. How do we even determine who doesn’t have access??

Answering that question? on the local scale is often challenging, expensive, and time consuming. While various, global datasets offer insights into WASH access at the national and state levels, details about access within countries, states, and districts often remain opaque. And even among countries with sub-national WASH datasets, this information varies in quality.?

Therefore, when decision-makers need to understand who has access to WASH, how well programs are reaching those in need, or to select where to direct services, marginalized populations are often overlooked or outright ignored.

However, a new tool from USAID’s Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) Program will begin to illuminate data at a local scale, helping better identify the populations without access to water and sanitation. For the first time, this information will reveal exactly where communities being left behind without basic water and sanitation services are located.?

The new Local Data Mapping Tool brings to life a WASH Atlas containing water and sanitation maps that reveal access rates at a resolution of? detail previously unavailable to most.?

With the ability to zoom down to a 5 kilometer by 5 kilometer area, the tool allows users to view WASH access details at the town or even neighborhood level — a huge leap from what has been previously available, and a development with exciting and far-reaching implications for WASH decision-makers everywhere.

This publicly available tool and dataset enables USAID, partners (including national governments), donors, and other development stakeholders to more accurately identify marginalized and vulnerable populations in order to better understand equity and success of existing efforts. These new resources will allow stakeholders to better design and target WASH programming and policies in the future.?

“Our whole job is to reach people without access,” says Brian Banks, USAID WASH Data and Analytics Advisor, “and this data is uniquely positioned to help us find those people on the margins and give them a voice.”

This World Water Day, USAID is excited to announce that these new high-resolution maps are now available for nine of the Agency’s Global Water Strategy High-Priority Countries , with plans to roll-out additional maps throughout the year. Across the initial nine countries, about 330 million people live without basic sanitation, and more than 150 million live without even a basic water service.?

Decision-makers can use these maps to find where these people live to inform new investments and program design, or adapt or pivot current WASH programming to make those interventions even more impactful.

Dive into the data and explore how the WASH Atlas can help shape more inclusive water and sanitation policies and reach those who have been left behind.?

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The USAID Water Team works to ensure reliable access to safe water and sanitation services.