Household Survey Data - Lahan, Nepal

<p dir="ltr">The data here was collected as part of a PhD studentship conducting research alongside partners the Beacon Project (a collaboration between Anglian Water and WaterAid). The data consists of household survey data collected at 56 locations in Lahan, Nepal from 28-09-2022 to 18-12-2022. The household survey was conducted with the aid of a local translator who spoke both the national language: Nepali, as well as the local dialect: Maithili. The survey questions were asked by the translator and the responses relayed back to the author in English. For simplicity, and to avoid the survey taking up too much of the participant’s time, the translator did not translate responses word-for-word. The responses therefore involved some interpretation and summarising by the translator. The responses were recorded by the author using the mWater app. </p><p dir="ltr">The survey had several aims, the first of which was to record the number of people using the piped supply so that the water consumption in litres per capita per day could be calculated. The next aim was to record the household assets relating to their water access. The household storage volume was estimated using the volume and quantity of their storage containers (larger containers are typically labelled with their volume making this a reliable estimate). The households were also asked to estimate the contribution of the piped supply to meeting their water needs in comparison to other sources. Another objective of the research was to establish how households behave in relation to their piped water supply. Therefore, questions relating to the typical manner in which households use water were included in the survey. The household’s perceptions of their current piped water supply were assessed in terms of both hours of supply per day and their perceived water quality. Another aim was to establish households’ consumer demand satisfaction (CDS) and their attitudes towards changes in the water supply. CDS is a challenging attribute to measure directly. Instead, two questions regarding the household’s desire for longer supply hours and for more water were selected. These aimed to establish their desire for increased piped water availability, which could be viewed as a proxy for their current demand satisfaction.</p><p dir="ltr">The survey questions were checked against the ‘Core questions on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for household surveys’ (UNICEF & WHO, 2018). This survey includes all the relevant questions set out in the ‘core questions for drinking water’ section of this international standard.</p><p dir="ltr">In addition, the International Wealth Index (IWI) of the household was collected, IWI is a global standard aimed at estimating household wealth in a universally comparable way based on household assets (Smits & Steendijk, 2015). To assess the current piped water availability of households from a water security perspective, the Household Water InSecurity Experiences (HWISE) (Young et al., 2019) survey was employed. The HWISE scale aims to measure water insecurity in a universal scale to aid comparison across locations and cultures.</p><p dir="ltr">The ethical approval number for this research is: 049120</p>