In 2016 the Government of Sierra Leone in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), UNICEF, UNDP and other partners, completed the mapping of 31,345 water points across the country . This provided useful data on the functionality of water points. The purpose of the WPM Data was to update the 2012 data and put in place mechanisms for the recurrent update of the WPM data once activities had taken place in the field. The WPM data provides an important foundation for water sector planning and strategy development.

Of the 31,345 points mapped 20,673 are technically functional, a further 2,108 were functional but partly damaged, while 6,055 were recorded as broken down. Another 813 points that were still under construction at the time of the survey were also mapped. A key figure is the combined number of points that are either fully functional or at least without major damage.iii There are 22,781 of these in Sierra Leone, of which 18,908 (65.5% of the total) are actually used. These are referred to as “protected in-use points” below. The main reason that some protected points are not used is pollution i.e. users reporting that the water is unclean (e.g. cloudy, salty, rotten taste etc.).