SDG 6 - Clean water and sanitation

SDG post #6 - SDG 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Hi #sustainability champions, today we continue our journey exploring the individual SDGs one by one to polish our knowledge and upskill in SDG learning. As mentioned before we send out a post approximately once or twice weekly until we have gone through all 17 SDGs. Today we tackle SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation.
You can follow or connect with us and see what we have to offer related to upscaling your change maker abilities (of tools and training) on our SDG toolkit webpages. ✔
So let’s explore Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), also known as "Clean Water and Sanitation" in a concise manner suitable for learning.
What is SDG 6 about?
Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is a global commitment to "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all". It’s about making available sustainable water supply and sanitation for all, provide access to clean and affordable drinking water, use water more efficiently, stop water pollution and increase water quality worldwide, protect and appropriately manage mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, lakes and rivers, and more.
Why does SDG 6 matter?
The availability of clean water and accessible sustainable sanitation is extremely important because it is tightly connected with and related to so many other fundamental SDGs like health and wellbeing, hunger, poverty, education and much more.
It is a basis which leads to healthier people, families, better economies, and more sustainable and peaceful societies. Achieving clean water and sanitation is crucial to realising many of the SDGs - after all you cannot expect to achieve any global goal if a third of the world’s population does not even have access to hygienic and clean sanitary facilities or have to drink water of poor quality. SDG 6 looks at all dimensions of the water cycle in human populations and habitats and protects the health of people and the planet alike.
Drinking unsafe water impairs health through illnesses such as diarrhoea, and untreated excreta contaminates groundwater and surface waters used for drinking-water, irrigation, bathing and household purposes.
Chemical contamination of water continues to pose a health burden, whether natural in origin such as arsenic and fluoride, or anthropogenic such as nitrate or pesticides.
Safe and sufficient water and sanitation plays a key role in preventing numerous non-transmittable diseases such as trachoma, soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis. Diarrhoeal deaths as a result of inadequate water and sanitation were reduced by half during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period (1990–2015), with the significant progress on water and sanitation provision playing a key role.
Evidence suggests that improving service levels towards safely managed drinking-water or sanitation such as regulated piped water or connections to sewers with wastewater treatment can dramatically improve health by reducing diarrhoeal disease deaths.
Beyond this, water is also crucial to the agricultural systems we rely on for food, is used in industry and to produce energy, and is a critical component of biodiversity and nature. It truly is one of those issues that is inherently linked to so many others and this is why SDG 6 is dedicated to ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
- Despite some improvements, progress in water and sanitation remains insufficient. At the current speed, in 2030, 2 billion people will still live without safely managed drinking water, 3 billion without safely managed sanitation and 1.4 billion without basic hygiene services.
- In 2022, roughly half the world's population experienced severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. One quarter faced "extremely high" levels of water stress. Climate change worsens these issues, posing significant risks to social stability.
- While 153 Member States share transboundary waters, only one region is on track to cover all transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers with cooperation arrangements by 2030.
- Even though data vary significantly approximately 57 % of all domestic wastewater discharges undergo some form of treatment. Trends in domestic wastewater suggest that little, if any, progress is being made towards the target of halving the proportion of unsafe discharges by 2030.
- So far data suggests that only 56 % of monitored water bodies show a good status of health. Agriculture and untreated wastewater are major threats to water quality, releasing harmful excess nutrients and other pollutants. Degradation in water quality since 2017 is a concerning trend based on data from countries with extensive monitoring programmes, but a paucity of data from many poorer countries.
- Water stress is increasing, with devastating consequences for sustainable development. Globally, the water stress level reached an average of 18.6 per cent in 2021, with Central and Southern Asia facing high stress and Northern Africa in critical stress. From 2015 to 2021, global water stress increased by 3 percent. Stress levels in Northern Africa and Western Asia rose 12 per cent, exacerbating already critical levels.
- Global water use efficiency has risen by varying degrees depending on the structure of economies. A 19 per cent increase in efficiency was observed over recent years. Efficiency improved in all economic sectors. Agriculture saw the greatest rise, at 36 percent, followed by industry at 31 percent and services at 6.3 percent, but Central and Southern Asia are falling behind.
- Tackling climate change, water scarcity and other crises requires a comprehensive approach to managing water resources, across sectors and borders. Countries with higher levels of integrated water resources management (score 0 to 100 percent) are more resilient to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Global progress in implementing integrated water resources management remains slow, however, edging up from a score of 49 percent in 2017 to only 57 percent in 2023, far short of the 2030 target of 91 to 100 percent, with particularly large need for improvement in Central and Southern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa
Key targets and indicators
SDG 6 is defined by 8 targets, which are measured by 11 indicators, ensuring progress can be tracked and goals can be met, that look at all dimensions of clean water and sanitation which explores a variety of topics related to water including how we provide clean drinking water and basic sanitation, how we deal with wastewater and prevent water contamination, water use efficiency, addressing water scarcity, preventing conflicts over water, protecting water ecosystems, and more. Some of the main targets summarised include (if you want to know the exact lengthy wording in the Agenda 2030 you should have a look here):
- achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
- achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation
- improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials
- substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater
- implement integrated water resources management at all levels
- protect and restore water-related ecosystems
- expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities
- support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management
Challenges & Progress
We've made some progress, like more people getting access to clean water and some improvements in sanitation and hygiene, but too little too late so far.
‘Water and Sanitation must be a fundamental human right for all people everywhere, independent of who they are and where they live’, Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General
The world continues to lag in its pursuit of clean water and sanitation by 2030. Progress on SDG 6 has seen some advancements, particularly in improving access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. However, challenges remain, with nearly 2 billion people still lacking safe drinking water and many more without adequate sanitation services. Additionally, water scarcity is affecting more than 40% of the global population, and climate change is exacerbating these issues. Continued efforts are needed to ensure sustainable water management and equitable access to resources for all, particularly in vulnerable communities.
Overall the latest UN SDG progress report on SDG 6 shows largely either marginal progress (like access to drinking water or water use efficiency and water stress), but more often stagnation (sanitation & hygiene) or even going backwards (waste water, water quality, management), with enormous regional differences, but certainly significant acceleration is required on almost all SDG 6 targets, with a particular focus on almost all poorer countries world-wide but particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where the vast majority of people in Africa but also in South Asia do not have access to safe drinking water or safe sanitation. The share of safely treated wastewater is well below 40% in most of Africa, South America, South and South-East Asia, but also RUssia and Central Asian countries. Interestingly the share of open water bodies with good quality is lowest in the wealthy countries in Europe and North America, but this may be an artefact of poor data availability. As highlighted above, water stress has reached severe levels in North Africa, Near and Middle East and also in South Asia. Similarly the protection of water related ecosystems like wetlands or mangroves is at best stagnating. At least financial support for poorer countries for clean water and sanitation is marginally improving in recent years, but way too little. Overall, a very long way to go and way off track to reach the 2030 targets..
If you would like to know more about where your country currently stands with SDG 6 (and all other SDGs), you can check out the latest Sustainable Development Report - Country Profiles (as well as Rankings, Interactive Maps and a Data Explorer), and additional visual presentations available on Our World in Data or specifically the UN SDG-6 Data Portal, with a recent far reaching report on Water in a heated world by the German Advisory Council on Global Change or the Water Atlas 2025 (currently only in German but soon also in English).
According to water.org, one in ten people lack access to safe water, one in three do not have access to a toilet, and women and children spend 125 millions hours each day collecting water. These facts affect the health and resilience of people and communities.
Every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-borne disease. What many people in the global North take for granted . a tap with drinking-quality water - is out of reach from more than 800 million people. We cannot create a sustainable world without also creating a more equitable world.
How to achieve clean water and sanitation for all?
Like any other SDG, also SDG 6 would require a multifaceted and multi-dimensional approach. Some of the more higher level (and often global to national) aspects of achieving SDG 6 could probably include in summary (but not be limited to) something like the following:
- Improve Water Infrastructure: Invest in reliable and sustainable water supply and sanitation infrastructure, especially in underserved and rural areas, to ensure access to safe water and hygiene facilities.
- Implement Integrated Water Resources Management: Promote efficient and sustainable management of water resources by integrating policies across sectors, regions and nations and involving local communities in decision-making processes.
- Enhance Water Quality Monitoring & Management: Strengthen policies and regulations to prevent and manage pollution of water sources, including industrial effluents and agricultural runoff, to protect water quality.
- Promote Water Conservation Practices: Encourage, promote and support water-saving practices and technologies in agriculture, industry, and households to reduce water waste and enhance resilience to climate impacts.
- Raise Awareness and Education: Conduct community education programs on the importance of water conservation, water footprints, hygiene practices, and the sustainable management of water resources to foster behavioral change.
Ecosystem Protection and Restoration: Legislate for and implement integrated connected water-related ecosystem services and biomes, based on public participation and sound financing approaches, not only for all water bodies to reach good health, but also for mangroves, wetlands and peat bogs also contributing to climate adaptation.
Experts estimate that for every dollar invested in clean water and sanitation, a return of at least US$4 is generated (water.org). In developing countries, the time children and women spend fetching water could respectively be dedicated to education and engaging in other economic or social activities. The knock-on effects of the lack of clean water and sanitation are major drivers of poverty, hunger, ill-health and environmental degradation.
The lack of proper sanitation leads to release of many pathogens into the environment that can damage human and ecosystem health. Fresh water and ecological and geological water treatment processes are important ecosystem services that depend on healthy ecosystem functions.
Throughout the SDG posts we have and will regularly mention the term bioregional next to local. It's a term coined quite a while ago, but has come into more frequent use recently, because sustainable and regenerative development needs to start at the local level but will need to go beyond it to sustain human and non-human life everywhere. Hence, for SDG 15 it's an appropriate point to provide a bit of a side step into bioregioning.
The past century has been marked by the rise of globalisation in every sense of the word - through production, culture, agriculture, consumption and more. This trend has brought great wealth and opportunities to many people and misery for many others - but what have we lost and forgotten through this process?
Bio-regioning is about the necessity of reconnecting to our local places for the sake of addressing our ecological, social, and economic challenges.In need for decentralised governance and institutions, as well as communities organised around resilience and regeneration.
- How deep are the historical and indigenous ties of humanity to the bioregional way of life?
- In what ways can individuals begin to engage with their local bioregions and contribute to a regenerative future? ,
- Finally, how can more humans who are connected and in relationship with the land influence future societies and cultures to be more aligned to the well-being of all life?
These and other questions are eloquently discussed in a roundtable between Daniel Christian Wahl, Samantha Power, and Isabel Carlisle, facilitated by Nate Hagens of the Great Simplification project as Bioregioning 101. More on bioregions will also be covered as part of the SDGs Multipliers course (see below).
Instead of putting too much emphasis on generic larger scale ‘solutions’, which are likely removed from the realities and contexts of many local communities wherever they are. And because the supported approach by Gaia Education for regenerative design and development, is about the context specific potential of each and every place and community. Hence, we want to support the life affirming or life regenerating local to bioregional conversations and co-creative processes which should be a starting point of whole systems based realisation of SDG 6 and all strongly linked and all other SDG systemically together. From this we provide some useful questions to ask yourself or a group you work with in relation to SDG 6 (sourced from the Gaia Education SDG Flashcards) in a multidimensional manner in the social, ecological, economic and worldview/cultural dimensions.
The SDG Flashcards can provide you with some ideas on how one can possibly work with the SDGs in different (not top down but bottom up) and generative approaches. Based and part of the Gaia Education SDG Flashcards, they contain more than 200 questions on the system-wide approach to achieving the 2030 Agenda.
The cards enable a participatory and problem-centric group conversation and solutions oriented multi-perspectival dialogue. They invite participants to engage and to collaborate to identify actions and solutions to implement the SDGs in ways that are relevant to their lives and communities, locally. This is an effective way to establish local to bioregional community ownership and realisation for the UN SDGs.
The SDG Flashcards are used in the SDG Training of Multipliers. Check out the freely downloadable SDG Training of Multipliers Handbook for a detailed description of how to prepare, promote, and how to use these cards more easily to promote community activist training, in various settings (e.g. local public bodies, communities, schools, universities, business etc.) as well as many other tools from our SDG webpages.
Gaia Education involvement with SDG 6
There are of course many examples of working on SDG 6 and clean water and sanitation in all its forms, sometimes also in a systemic way (Post 0).
Gaia Education is involved in educational and training offerings which support the implementation of the SDGs including SDG 6, but is also part of projects and initiatives where at least one, mostly several SDGs are targeted. Examples of training or project involvement with some focus on SDG 6 in a wider sense are (and the Ecological Dimension of the Design for Sustainability and Regeneration Course does cover water as well):
Local Water Solutions for Global Challenges (online course),
This online self-paced course presented by the University of Strathclyde, Gaia Education and UNITAR contributes to the International Decade (2018–2028) for Action – Water for Sustainable Development, and is supported by the Scottish Government. This Water Action Decade will focus on the sustainable development and integrated management of water resources and sanitation to achieve social, economic and environmental objectives and to implement and promote related programmes and projects, as well as to advance cooperation and partnership at all levels to achieve internationally agreed water-related goals and targets, including those contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The course contains 4 Modules and includes Global Water Challenges, Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies, Water Governance and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. The course can be accessed without a fee.
Ecosystem Restoration Design, (online course).
Even though this course covers all aspects of restoring degraded ecosystems on land and water and their tight connections, it has a strong foundation in SDG 6 (and of course SDG 15). The Ecosystem Restoration Design online course, is a collaborative initiative by Ecosystem Restoration Communities and Gaia Education. Launched in 2020, this transformative journey has already welcomed over 500 participants eager to delve into the realms of ecological renewal.
The online course aims to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem degradation, exploring its social, political, economic, and ecological causes across various biomes. Students learn effective restoration techniques tailored to different ecosystems and analyse the barriers hindering timely and large-scale restoration efforts. The course also evaluates strategies to overcome these challenges and guide participants in developing a basic restoration plan for a local to bioregional ecosystem, promoting practical skills in environmental sustainability management. Ultimately, the course encourages a design-with-nature approach, fostering a deeper connection to and stewardship of the environment.
How does your local community clean water and sanitation SDG project look like?
Again, let’s take our future into our own hands, and start your SDG journey and locally to bio-regionally based community project now!
And to close if you would like to learn much more about SDG 6 and all other SDGs and the Agenda 2030 and many more topics, approaches and methods to practically work with the SDG in your local to bioregional context we encourage you to start or re-invigorate your personal SDG journey through the upcoming online SDGs Multipliers course, starting on 17th February 2025.
For more and the video affine the SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation - UN Sustainable Development Goals - DEEP DIVE
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