SDG & We
Towards SDG-6
Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
The sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all, focusing on drinking water and sanitation, the
sustainable management of water resources, water quality, integrated water resources
management (IWRM), water-related ecosystems, and the enabling environment. In the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development, countries have committed to engage in systematic followup and review of progress towards the SDGs and their targets, using a set of global indicators.
The UN-Water Integrated Monitoring Initiative (IMI-SDG6) supports countries’ monitoring of, and
reporting on, SDGs.
Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and wellbeing. Billions of people will lack access to these basic services in 2030 unless progress
quadruples. Demand for water is rising owing to rapid population growth, urbanisation and
increasing water needs from agriculture, industry, and energy sectors.
The demand for water has outpaced population growth, and half the world’s population is already
experiencing severe water scarcity at least one month a year. Water scarcity is projected to
increase with the rise of global temperatures as a result of climate change.
Investments in infrastructure and sanitation facilities; protection and restoration of water- related
ecosystems; and hygiene education are among the steps necessary to ensure universal access to
safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030, and improving water-use efficiency is one key
to reducing water stress.
There has been positive progress. Between 2015 and 2022, the proportion of the world’s
population with access to safely managed drinking water increased from 69 per cent to 73 per
cent.
Why?
Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is a human right. To get back on track, key strategies
include increasing sector-wide investment and capacity-building, promoting innovation and
evidence-based action, enhancing cross-sectoral coordination and cooperation among all
stakeholders, and adopting a more integrated and holistic approach to water management.
Water is essential not only to health, but also to poverty reduction, food security, peace and
human rights, ecosystems and education.
Nevertheless, countries face growing challenges linked to water scarcity, water pollution,
degraded water-related ecosystems and cooperation over transboundary water basins.
What are the challenges?
In 2022, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water, including 703 million without
a basic water service; 3.5 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation, including 1.5 billion
without basic sanitation services; and 2 billion lacked a basic handwashing facility, including 653
million with no handwashing facility at all.
By managing our water sustainably, we are also able to better manage our production of food and
energy and contribute to decent work and economic growth. Moreover, we can preserve our
water ecosystems, their biodiversity, and take action on climate change.
Are water and climate change linked?
Water availability is becoming less predictable in many places. In some regions, droughts are
exacerbating water scarcity and thereby negatively impacting people’s health and productivity
and threatening sustainable development and biodiversity worldwide.
Ensuring that everyone has access to sustainable water and sanitation services is a critical
climate change mitigation strategy for the years ahead.
Without better infrastructure and management, millions of people will continue to die every year
from water-related diseases such as malaria and diarrhoea, and there will be further losses in
biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, undermining prosperity and efforts towards a more
sustainable.
What can we do?
Civil society organisations should work to keep governments accountable, invest in water
research and development, and promote the inclusion of women, youth and indigenous
communities in water resources governance.
Generating awareness of these roles and turn- ing them into action will lead to win-win results and
increased sustainability and integrity for both human and ecological systems.
You can also get involved in the World Water Day and World Toilet Day campaigns that aim to
provide information and inspiration to take action on hygiene issues.
Facts and Figures:
- Despite great progress, billions of people still lack access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. Achieving universal coverage by 2030 will require a substantial increase in current global rates of progress: sixfold for drinking water, fivefold for sanitation and threefold for hygiene.
- Water use efficiency has risen by 9 per cent, but water stress and water scarcity remain a concern in many parts of the world. In 2020, 2.4 billion people lived in water-stressed countries. The challenges are compounded by conflicts and climate change.
- Key strategies to get Goal 6 back on track include increasing sector-wide investment and capacity-building, promoting innovation and evidence- based action, enhancing cross-sectoral coordination and cooperation among all stakeholders, and adopting a more integrated and holistic approach to water management.
- Only 0.5 per cent of water on Earth is useable and available freshwater – Wake up to the looming water crisis, report warns | World Meteorological Organization.
- Limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C would approximately halve the proportion of the world population expected to suffer water scarcity, although there is considerable variability between regions.Chapter 8: Water Cycle Changes.
- The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to double from 930 million in 2016 to 1.7–2.4 billion people in 2050. Imminent risk of a global water crisis, warns the UN World Water Development Report 2023 | UNESCO.
- Despite progress, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water services, 3.5 billion lacked safely managed sanitation services, and 2.0 billion lacked basic hygiene services in 2022.
- Surface water bodies, such as lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, are undergoing rapid global changes, with one in five river basins showing high fluctuations in surface water levels in the past 5 years.
- Water pollution poses a significant challenge to human health and the environment in many countries.
Goal- 6 Targets:
- 6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
- 6.2 By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
- 6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
- 6.4 By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity
- 6.5 By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
- 6.6 By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
- 6.A By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies
- 6.B Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management.
