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Although progress has been made as the years go by, a lot of places still have trouble with access to clean water and sanitation. A region that has been having trouble with providing safe water and sanitation is Sub-Saharan Africa. The process isn't steady and has holes so therefore not a lot of progress is made. Although there hasn't been a spike in progress, more people in rural areas that suffered more with this issue are starting to get access to better water and sanitation.

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South Africa’s increasing water stress requires urgent informed actions

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South Africa’s water situation is complex. It needs better monitoring and implementation of plans.

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How can the improvement of water filtering technologies improve the health and lives of the people living in Sub-Saharan Africa?

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I think I want to research the lack of water and sanitation which must be addressed to reach SDG 6. I will focus on central and western Africa and its approach to install more wells and water filtering in its poorer places. I want to research this because I've traveled to countries where sanitation and water was a luxury to achieve. I've witnessed people walking miles to attain drinkable waters and to take a shower in a lake. While visiting these countries I had to adapt to taking time out of my day just to be safe with water and hygiene which isn't something anyone should go through.

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While economies grow, sometimes crisis occur such as floods and droughts. These crises can cause work and achievements that were done to go back to square one. For exaple an economy can be flourishing, but once a major crisis hits everything can go wrong. For instance, in Somalia after a flood many families were displaced and when they came back home their drinking water was contaminated. This negative effect made parents worry that since the water tastes different, it could affect their children.

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East Africa: When water leaves people high and dry

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The article Mentions the top 10 countries with the least access to clean water. These countries are Niger, Papua New Guinea,Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Uganda, Angola, and Mozambique. These countries lack between 30%-55% of clean water. Like previous articles the countries are mostly in western Africa and central, but as well a bit in the south.

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Africa has a lot of natural resources but its struggle is the lack of water. Even in urban areas the quality of water isn't great. If more investments were put to grow the economy in order to add better technologies such as rainwater harvesting systems, solar filtration, and personal purifiers, then the economy would thrive more. I feel that if Africa were to get an increase in cleaner water and better sanitation it could move up in the world an become richer than some of the top countries right now due to all their resources too.

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Safe drinking water in Africa: challenges and real solutions

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Learn about the reality of safe drinking water in Africa: inequalities, risks and sustainable strategies that are making a difference in communities.

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The lack of safe water and sanitation are one of the top killers in Africa, especially in lower income areas. Just like the other article this one talks about 10 countries facing the triple threat. These countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Somalia. These countries are also in the west and central part of Africa. The article states that at least 1.21 million people die from unsafe water, hygiene, and hand washing, but from this number 44% of deaths were form Africa.

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State of Africa’s Environment: Death rate due to unsafe water sources 1,000-fold of that in developed countries

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Water and sanitation are intertwined: lack of safe sanitation practices and behaviours lead to water pollution and diseases, besides other reasons. But safe san

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Countries in west and central Africa face a lot of water insecurity. The top 10 countries in which this threat is impacted a lot are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia. The article states that these countries "are at the highest risk from a convergence of three water-related threats – inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); related diseases; and climate hazards". This means that these countries face more deaths from children due to diseases caused by unhealthy water and sanitation.

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NEW YORK, 20 March 2023 - 190 million children in 10 African countries are at the highest risk from a convergence of three water-related threats - inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); related diseases; and climate hazards - according to a new UNICEF analysis.

The triple threat was found to be most acute in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia, making West and Central Africa one of the world's most water-insecure and climate-impacted regions, according to the analysis. Many of the worst-affected countries, particularly in the Sahel, are also facing instability and armed conflict, further aggravating children's access to clean water and sanitation.

"Africa is facing a water catastrophe. While climate and water-related shocks are escalating globally, nowhere else in the world do the risks compound as severely for children," said UNICEF Director of Programmes Sanjay Wijesekera. "Devastating storms, floods, and historic droughts are already destroying facilities and homes, contaminating water resources, creating hunger crises, and spreading disease. But as challenging as the current conditions are, without urgent action, the future could be much more bleak."

The global analysis - which reviewed household access to WASH services, the burden of WASH-attributable deaths among children under five, and exposure to climate and environmental hazards - reveals where children face the biggest threat and where investment in solutions is desperately needed to prevent unnecessary deaths.

Across the 10 hotspots, nearly one-third of children do not have access to at least basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services. A quarter of children have no choice but to practise open defecation. Hand hygiene is also limited, with three-quarters of children unable to wash their hands because of lack of water and soap at home.

As a result, these countries also carry the heaviest burden of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate WASH, such as diarrhoeal diseases. For example, 6 of the 10 have faced cholera outbreaks over the past year. Globally, more than 1,000 children under five die every day from WASH-related diseases, with around 2 out of 5 concentrated in these 10 countries alone.

These hotspots also rank within the top 25 per cent of 163 countries globally with the highest risk of exposure to climate and environmental threats. Higher temperatures - which accelerate pathogen replication - are increasing 1.5 times faster than the global average in parts of West and Central Africa. Groundwater levels are also dropping, requiring some communities to dig wells twice as deep as just a decade ago. At the same time, rainfall has become more erratic and intense, leading to floods that contaminate scarce water supplies.

All 10 hotspot countries are also classified by OECD as fragile or extremely fragile, with the stresses of armed conflict in some countries threatening to reverse progress toward safe water and sanitation. For example, Burkina Faso has seen a ramping up of attacks on water facilities as a tactic to displace communities. Fifty-eight water points were attacked in 2022, up from 21 in 2021, and three in 2020. As a result, more than 830,000 people - over half of whom are children - lost access to safe drinking water in the last year.

The new analysis comes ahead of the UN 2023 Water Conference taking place in New York from 22-24 March. World leaders, relevant organizations and other participants will convene for the first time in 46 years to review progress toward ensuring access to water and sanitation for all. At the conference, UNICEF is calling for:

Rapid scale-up of investment in the sector, including from global climate financing.

Strengthening climate resilience in the WASH sector and communities.

Prioritizing the most vulnerable communities in WASH programmes and policies.

Increasing effective and accountable systems, coordination and capacities to provide water and sanitation services.

Implementing the UN-Water SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework and investing in the key accelerators.

"The loss of a child's life is shattering for families. But the pain is intensified when it is preventable and caused by the lack of basic necessities many take for granted like safe drinking water, toilets, and soap," said Wijesekera. "Investing in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene services is not only a matter of protecting children's health today, but also ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come."

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Notes to editors
The 'triple threat' or 'triple burden' is defined in this brief as less than 50 per cent access to at least basic water or sanitation services; within the top 20 countries with the highest burden of deaths attributable to unsafe WASH among children under 5; and the top 25 per cent of countries facing the highest risk of climate and environmental hazards

The analysis is based on a composite of data pulled from three sources:

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A triple threat of water-related crises is endangering the lives of 190 million children - UNICEF

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As world leaders prepare to attend the historic UN Water Conference, UNICEF calls for urgent investment in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services to protect children

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Over a hundred countries wont reach the goal by 2030, but it was found that space technologies can help manage water resources. If used right satellite images can be used to find issues behind this and help manage and deliver water and sanitation. Either way clean water and sanitation is its own goal category, the achievement of this goal would also affect other goals. For example, the improvement of sdg6 would also help achieve and improve goal 3 which is related to good health. You can't achieve one goal without achieving another because it's as if you were going step by step.

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Leveraging Space Technologies to Achieve SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation - Space in Africa

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The Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SGD 6) focuses on ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for […]

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Eight out of ten people without basic water needs live in rural areas. In Urban areas around 62% of people have safe sanitation services, while in rural areas around only 44% of people have safe sanitation and water services. Even though urban and rural places are miles away the percentage struggling with unsafe sanitation and water are still close to each other. Businesses would have to double if this goal wants to be met by 2030.

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Impact statement

The article extensively explored data on the progress of SDG 6, reflecting actions that are being taken across many geographical regions globally. Although too slow, and unequal across countries, progress was made globally on SDG 6 between 2015 and 2020. In 2020, 2 billion people (26%) lacked safely managed drinking water, and 3.6 billion (46%) lacked safely managed sanitation services. In many countries and regions, key statistical data are missing or not available; an issue which has been made considerably worse as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war had a significant negative impact on society, the environment and the global economy with hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The economic impacts impeded the prospects of a recovery of already fragile economies, particularly for low- and middle-income countries, creating sharp increases in food, energy and medical supplies, and disruptions to water and sanitation services due to fuel shortages and power cuts. Donors and governments are noted to likely divert funding from the WASH sector to emergency response and health care, resulting in a significant reduction in overall funding for the sector. This may restrict the ability of low- and middle-income countries to invest in new water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in the near future. The full extent of these impacts on the WASH sector is yet to be understood.

Introduction

The UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) was established to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030 (Agenda 2030). Compared to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), driven by a top-down process, and coordinated by a small number of powerful political entities (the United States, Europe and Japan), the SDGs were designed as a participatory programme to be driven by the participating member countries. The MDGs were widely heralded for highlighting poverty reduction and social development as the most important development problems meeting basic needs in poor countries, while the SDGs addressed issues of poverty, environmental sustainability, economic development and social equity, aiming beyond a focus on 'basic needs'. Fundamentally, the SDGs replaced the MDGs' poverty agenda with an agenda for 'sustainable development' (Fukuda-Parr, Reference Fukuda-Parr2016) (Bandola-Gill et al., Reference Bandola-Gill, Grek, Tichenor, Bandola-Gill, Grek and Tichenor2022). To measure the progress of SDG 6, there are 8 targets and 11 indicators associated with these targets. This article focuses on targets 6.1 and 6.2. Target 6.1 aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all, while target 6.2 aims to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation by 2030. Target 6.1 is measured by indicator 6.1.1, the proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services. Target 6.2 is monitored using indicator 6.2.1, with two sub-indicators: 6.2.1a - the proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services, and 6.2.1b - the proportion of population using handwashing facilities with soap and water (WHO/UNICEF, 2017).

Most of the member states were responsible for collecting and sharing information when the 2030 Agenda was adopted. The United Nations pledged to support the members in implementing the agenda.

Country data are compiled and validated by indicator-specific custodian agencies, who submit the data, along with regional and global aggregates, to the United Nations Statistics Division (unwater, n.d.).

Some definitions of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) uses a standard classification and estimation method to compare progress across countries, regions and the world. To achieve this, it provides recommendations on drinking water and sanitation service levels and hygiene through its JMP service ladders that help to benchmark and compare service levels across countries. The water and sanitation service ladders have been updated and expanded to facilitate enhanced global monitoring and build on the established improved/unimproved facility type classification and introduce new rungs with additional criteria relating to service levels. Hygiene is now explicitly referenced in the SDG targets/indicators, having been completely absent in all MDG targets or indicators. There appear to be differences in the definitions used in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors in national data sources that make comparisons between countries sometimes difficult (WHO/UNICEF, 2021). We apply the JMP definitions and service-level classifications for the discussions in this article, as below.

Drinking water quantity and quality recommendations

Five levels of the drinking water source ladder

There are five levels of drinking water sources associated with quality, from highest to lowest as follows: 'Safely Managed from an improved source' followed by 'Basic', 'Limited', 'Unimproved' and 'Surface water' ( Figure 1).

Level 1: Safely managed service from an improved water source (called, safely managed):

For target 6.1.1 reporting, a safely managed drinking water tracks the proportion of population using water from (a) an 'improved water source' and (b) satisfying the criteria of a 'safely managed' drinking water services.

Level 2: Basic Service (not 'safely managed'):

* Drinking water is from an improved source

* Does not fulfil the 'Safely managed' criteria

* Collection time is not more than a 30-min round trip, including queuing.

Level 3: Limited Service (not 'safely managed'):

* Drinking water is from an improved source

* Does not fulfil the 'Safely managed' criteria

* Collection time is more than a 30-min round trip, including queuing.

Level 4: Unimproved sources (not 'safely managed'):

'Unimproved' drinking water sources include unprotected dug wells or unprotected springs.

Level 5: Surface water (not 'safely managed'):

Surface water includes rivers, reservoirs (dams), lakes, ponds, streams, canals and irrigation channels, all of which are by nature of their design and construction unlikely to deliver safe water.

Improved drinking water sources alone does not mean safely managed drinking water

According to the SDG Indicator Metadata definitions, piped water is classified as 'improved'. Experience with piped water (improved source) in developing countries shows that to satisfy the accessibility criteria, piped water supply is often provided to communities without any form of treatment. Such piped water supplies usually contain excessive turbidity and E. coli, particularly during rainy seasons. Therefore, receiving water from an improved water source does not necessarily provide assurance that the water is free from microbial and chemical contamination. As you will see in the discussion below, satisfying accessibility criteria, supplying untreated water through piped supply to rural communities is often practised in the provision of drinking water to communities in developing countries even in 2023. The concern of supplying drinking water without disinfection to rural communities was highlighted in an ICE conference publication in 2006 and noted that it is quite common even in many donor-funded projects in developing countries (Puvanachandran et al., Reference Puvanachandran, Rajapakse and Mandawali2006). Recently published data on water quality by water source type in 27 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) showed that the quality of piped water varied considerably between countries, with >20% of the population using piped water that exceeded 100 E. coli CFUs/100 mL in Chad, Lao PDR, Nepal, Nigeria and Sierra Leone (Bain et al., Reference Bain, Johnston, Khan, Hancioglu and Slaymaker2021). Although an improved source such as an untreated piped water supply is less likely to be contaminated by human excreta ( E. coli) between point of collection (PoC) and point of use (PoU) and could be a better option than an unimproved source, both options do not satisfy the criteria of safe water.

Sanitation service-level recommendations

SDG target 6.2 is monitored using indicator 6.2.1, which has two sub-indicators 6.2.1a - proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services; and 6.2.1b - proportion of population using a handwashing facility with soap and water. Indicator 6.2.1a is measured using the JMP ladder for sanitation, which defines five service levels, ranging from open defecation (lowest level of service) to safely managed sanitation services (highest level of service) ( Figure 2). This ladder builds upon the MDG and in many cases extends the indicator of 'use of improved sanitation facilities', by including additional aspects of the quality of service. WHO/UNICEF defines '"improved sanitation facilities" as those designed to hygienically separate excreta from human contact and include: flush/pour flush toilets connected to piped sewer systems, septic tanks or pit latrines; pit latrines with slabs (including ventilated pit latrines), and composting toilets' (WHO, 2023). The adoption of improved sanitation facilities cannot be considered safe from a public health perspective if faecal matter is allowed to accumulate and overflow into the environment or is emptied and unsafely dumped in unregulated disposal sites due to the lack of a functional faecal sludge management (FSM) service chain. The new SDG target for 'safely managed sanitation' thus not only challenges governments to reach universal access to unshared, improved sanitation facilities but also ensures that facilities are coupled with proper faecal sludge management.

We adopted the JMP sanitation definitions for the discussions in this article (WHO and UNICEF, 2017):

- Level 1: Safely managed sanitation service - Use of improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are treated and safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated off-site

- Level 2: Basic sanitation service - Use of improved facilities that are not shared with other households

- Level 3: Limited sanitation service - Use of improved sanitation facilities shared between two or more households

- Level 4: Unimproved sanitation service - Use of pit latrines without a slab or platform, hanging latrines or bucket latrines

- Level 5: Open defecation - Disposal of human faeces in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, beaches and other open spaces or with solid waste

It is important to note that safely managed sanitation can be achieved through the use of either sewered sanitation or non-sewered (on-site) sanitation technologies, but the information needed for classification is different. Use of sewered sanitation can only be considered as safely managed services if the resulting blackwater is transported to an off-site treatment plant and undergoes secondary or higher-level treatment (or primary treatment with effluent discharged through a long ocean outfall). The use of toilets or improved latrines connected to on-site storage/treatment in septic tanks or pits are also classified as safely managed if the containment system effectively separates its contents (i.e., excreta) from consumers and the environment, and the excreta either are removed and treated off-site or remain stored and are considered treated and disposed of in situ.

Indicator 6.2.1b is measured using the JMP ladder for hygiene and prioritises the presence of a handwashing facility with soap and water on-premises as the indicator for national and global monitoring. It defines three service levels: (i) no service - households that have no facility at all (lowest level); (ii) limited service - households with a facility but lack water or soap, and (iii) basic service - households with a handwashing facility with soap and water available on-premises (highest level).

Materials and methods

The SDG Index and SDG 6 indicators provide national or regional accomplishments in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene towards the Agenda 2030, hence will be used as a report card to assess the progress of a nation or a geographic region.

SDG progress data (SDG Index & SDG 6 indicators) are retrieved from international organisations including United Nations, World Bank, WHO / UNICEF (Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene - JMP) and the Sustainable Development Reports (SDRs) 2021 and 2022 as cited in the text. The two SDRs are joint annual publications of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Bertelsmann Stiftung, published by the Cambridge University Press (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2021; Reference Sachs2022). The reports deal with information from both government and non-official sources, but the contents do not reflect the mandate of the organisations or agencies such as the World Bank and other international organisations. In situations, where data are lacking, the authors used other metrics to close the gaps. For example the UN-Water SDG 6 Data Portal ( n.d.)) was used for safe water and sanitation data and for basic water and basic sanitation data when available, while the Sachs et al. SDR Reports (2021 and 2022) were used for SDG Index and the newly defined 'at least basic' water and sanitation services data. The term 'at least basic' services will be explained later.

The SDR Reports contain 91 global indicators and 30 additional ones for the OECD (Finmark Trust, 2020) countries. In addition, the SDG Index covers 165 countries. The SDG Index only includes nations for which data are available for at least 80% of the variables listed in the global SDG, and for coverage data must be available for at least 80% of the nation with a population higher than one million. This reduces biases resulting from missing data.

The two main categories used to group the 165 countries are (1) geographic region and (2) income level. This categorisation is for statistical convenience and does not deal with political or other affiliations of countries or territories by the United Nations.

Global trends of SDG Index by geographical regions

Figure 3 below shows a snapshot of the SDG Index in different SDG regions and income groups, compared with the world index for the years 2017 to 2022. Based on gross national income (GNI), the World Bank assigns the world's economies to four income groups: low (<US$ 1,085), lower-middle, upper-middle and high-income (>US$ 13,205) - a total of 217 countries. Only data for low- and high-income groups are presented here with SDG regions for comparison purposes. The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have clearly been major setbacks for nearly every aspect of sustainable development and may have even led to a regression in SDG progress. As a result, the global SDG Index has been stagnant at 66 for the years 2021 and 2022. In 2022, high-income countries performed 11.5 points higher than the world average of 66, while low-income countries were 14.4 points lower at 51.6. Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania performed below the world average, while other regions were on par or slightly better than the world average.

It is obvious that high-income countries are more likely to achieve most of the targets than other countries, but current data show that none are on track. These countries are doing well on some of the indicators, particularly on goals related to socioeconomic outcomes and basic access to infrastructure and services - SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 6 (Safe Water and Sanitation) and SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy).

Performance on SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) remains below pre-pandemic levels in many low-income countries and LMICs. This is a major setback, especially considering that before the pandemic, over the period of 2015-2019, the world was progressing on the SDGs at a rate of 0.5 points per year (which was also too slow to reach the 2030 deadline), with poorer countries making greater gains than rich countries. Progress on climate and biodiversity goals is also too slow, especially in rich countries (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2022).

Global trends of SDG 6 indicators 6.1.1 & 6.2.1 by geographical regions

The JMP provides national estimates only when data are available on drinking water quality and at least one of the other criteria (accessibility and availability). Regional and income group estimates are made when data are available for at least 30% of the population (World Bank, n.d.).

There are some data on drinking water quality from household surveys and government sources. However, in many low-income countries, existing water quality data from regulatory authorities are limited, especially for rural areas and populations using non-piped supplies. As discussed earlier, many piped supplies do not guarantee safe water, and therefore, this also contributes to the lack of data on safe water statistics.

Since 2017, the JMP reports on progress towards SDG target 6.1, which has included estimates on the quality of drinking water supplies. This represents a significant advance in the global monitoring of drinking water services. To complement the regulator data, an increasing number of LMICs are collecting national or sub-national representative data on drinking water quality through multi-topic household surveys. When Level 1 (safely managed) data are lacking, the next available data at Level 2 (Basic services) are reported. There is also a combined level called 'Population using At Least Basic services', and for water, this indicator encompasses both people using basic drinking water services as well as those using safely managed drinking water services.

National data from each country, area or territory are recorded in the JMP country files, with water, sanitation and hygiene data recorded on separate sheets. Country files can be downloaded from the JMP website: https://washdata.org/data/downloads. However, these links to country data only provide a summary of collected averages, and not detailed water quality data on specific locations.

Similarly, data availability for SDG 6.2 indicators also improved over the period of 2015 to 2020, with a 43% increase (84 to 120 countries) in the number of countries reporting on indicator 6.2.1a (safely managed sanitation services) and a 13% increase (70 to 79 countries) for indicator 6.2.1b (basic hygiene services). The increase in data coverage for indicator 6.2.1 has been largely driven by LMICs where on-site sanitation is widespread, and household surveys updated to collect data on pit-emptying practices.

In spite of these improvements, it is important to note that data availability varies significantly across the SDG 6.2 indicators, between regions, and between rural and urban areas for all SDG areas, with many countries still lacking data for 2020.

Concerning open defecation, the data show that basic sanitation services were available for >95% of the population in all SDG regions, with the exception of Latin America and the Caribbean (93%) in 2020. There was, however, insufficient data to estimate the global population with excreta removed and treated off-site. Additionally, estimates for basic hygiene ranged from 0% in Australia and New Zealand and in Europe and Northern America (no data available) to 92% in Central and Southern Asia and 93% in sub- Saharan Africa.

This article highlights the achievements of SDG 6 with indicators 6.1.1 (water) and 6.2.1 (sanitation). Performance on SDG 6 (Safe Water and Sanitation) for the geographical regions compared to the world average is shown in Figures 4 and 5, respectively.

As can be seen from Figure 4, the proportion of the global population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 70% in 2015 to 74% in 2020, with the largest numbers of people gaining access in Central, East and Southern Asian countries, with an average percentage increase of 4%. Despite this progress, another 2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water in 2020. The Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region recorded an increase of 27% in 2015 to 30% in 2020. Further analysis of the data available in 2020 from the World Bank (World Bank, 2020a) showed that only 131 out of 217 countries classified by the World Bank had data available for safely managed drinking water coverage.

From the 131 countries, 6 countries (4.6%) had safe drinking water coverage of below 15% in 2020. The six countries were Chad (6%), Central African Republic (6%), Sierra Leone (11%), Rwanda (12%), Ethiopia (13%) and Kiribati (15%). Fourteen countries (10.7%) had safe drinking water coverage between 16-30%, 11 countries (8.4%) between 31-50%, 14 countries (10.7%) between 51-70%, 47 countries (35.9%) between 71-97% and 39 countries (29.8%) between 98-100%. In 2020, 2 billion people were without safely managed drinking water, including 1.2 billion people lacking even a basic level of service. At the current rate of progress, the world will reach 81% safely managed drinking water service coverage by 2030. The current rate of progress would need to increase four-fold, to 2.6 percentage points per year, in order to reach universal coverage by 2030 (United Nations, 2022).

From 2015 to 2020, the world population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 47% to 54%. Out of the 217 World Bank classification of economies, in 2020 data for safely managed sanitation services were available for 126 countries only (World Bank, 2020b). Analysis of the data available from the World Bank for 126 countries showed that 11 countries (8.7%) had safely managed sanitation coverage of below 15% in 2020. These countries were Tuvalu (6%), Ethiopia (7%), Togo (9%), Madagascar (10%), Chad (10%), North Macedonia (12%), Guinea-Bissau (12%), Ghana (13%), Democratic Republic of Congo (13%), Sierra Leone (14%) and Central African Republic (14%). Another 19 countries (15.1%) had safely managed sanitation coverage between 16-30%, 21 countries (16.7%) between 31-50%, 20 countries (15.9%) between 51-70%, 44 countries (34.9%) between 71-97% and 11 countries (8.7%) between 98-100%. Given the current rate of progress, it is possible for the world to reach 67% coverage by 2030. This will leave about 2.8 billion people without access to basic services. At the same time, those practising open defecation will be reduced to about 50% (from 739 million to 494 million). At this level, it is possible for the world to eliminate open defecation.

The proportion of the global population using at least basic drinking water services increased from 88% in 2015 to 90% in 2020 ( Figure 6), with 771 million still without even basic drinking water. Half of those lacking basic drinking water services (387 million) live in SSA (United Nations, 2021). The region recorded a marginal increase of 33% in 2015 to 35% in 2020 (basic drinking water services), compared to 64.4% in 2020 ( at least basic drinking water services), whilst a minor regression was noted for Central and Southern Asia from 31% in 2015 to 29% in 2020 ( basic drinking water services). There was no data available for Central and Southern Asia to compare with at least basic drinking water services. The Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and Latin American regions recorded no significant increase over the 5-year period. At the current rate of progress, the world will reach 94% basic drinking water service coverage by 2030. Eight out of 10 people who lack even basic drinking water services live in rural areas, and about half of them live in LMICs. Out of the 217 World Bank classification of economies, in 2020 data for at least basic drinking water coverage were available for 216 countries (World Bank, 2020c). Analysis of the data available from the World Bank for 216 countries showed that no countries (0%) had at least basic drinking water coverage of below 30% in 2020. Eight countries (3.7%) with at least basic drinking water coverage had between 31-50%. Except Papua New Guinea (45%), all other seven countries were in Sub-Saharan Africa. An additional 24 countries (11.1%) had at least basic drinking water services coverage between 51-70%, 85 countries (39.4%) between 71-97% and 99 countries (45.8%) between 98-100%.

World population using at least basic sanitation increased from 73% in 2015 to 78% in 2020 ( Figure 7). The gap between low-income countries (30.8%) and high-income countries (99.5%) was quite significant in 2020. The World Bank data for basic sanitation coverage was available for 215 out of 217 countries (World Bank, 2020d). Analysis of the available data showed that 7 countries out of 215 (3.3%) had at least basic sanitation coverage of below 15% in 2020. Another 13 countries (6.0%) had coverage between 16-30%, 23 countries (10.7%) between 31-50%, 17 countries (7.9%) between 51-70%, 76 countries (35.3%) between 71-97% and 79 countries (36.7%) between 98-100%. The SSA region recorded a marginal 1% increase from 2015 to 2020. Similarly, Central and South Asia had improvements in basic sanitation access, increasing from 21% to 25% over the same period. East and South-East Asia, on the other hand, experienced an average regression of 4% points on basic sanitation.

Proper hygiene is essential in containing infectious diseases including COVID-19, but there is still a significant percentage of the global population that does not practise it. As evident, 1 in 4 people lack access to handwashing facilities with soap and water at home. The data indicate that the global population with basic handwashing facilities with soap and water increased to 71% from 61% between 2015 and 2020.

There are significant differences between rural and urban areas, with the rural areas seeing a 1.1 percentage points/year increase. If this trend continues, we are likely to see 78% coverage at the end of the period, and there will be 1.9 billion people still needing basic services. We know and are aware that access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is a basic human need and these are critical to global health success. To achieve global goals at the end of the period, current activities would need to increase 4 times. This step is important, as the outcome will support about 829,000 lives annually. According to the United Nations ( 2022), this is the number of people who currently die each year from diseases directly attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene practices.

Discussion on SDG 6 Progress by geographic regions

As demonstrated in Figures 4- 7 and the above discussion, for both drinking water and sanitation coverage, the global average masks geographic disparities, with some regions performing better and others having values below the global average. Rural water supply and sanitation (WSS) systems often have fundamentally different needs and capacity levels when compared to urban systems. This is true for regions, geography-topography, their infrastructure, costs and customer base.

Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA)

In 2020, the safe drinking water supply coverage and safely managed sanitation coverage in Europe and Central Asia (excluding high-income countries), were 78% and 67%, respectively, with significant variation across the countries in the region (World Bank, 2020a; 2020b). Despite apparently high access rates, as reported by the JMP, one of the most persistent and challenging issues in the region remains low access to reliable supply of drinking water quality and to proper sanitation in rural areas. Planning, financing and implementation of water supply and sanitation systems in rural areas are all noted to be more challenging compared to urban areas, where populations are smaller, have lower purchasing power and are more dispersed. Coverage estimates often indicate that piped water supply to households is in place, but evidence suggests that they do not always meet people's needs. A continuous supply of safe drinking water at an affordable cost is not available, and as a result, rural households, oftentimes, have to rely on open canals, shallow wells or mountain streams, even when water systems are in place. Challenges related to high costs and low affordability, and lack of public investment are also applicable to sanitation (OECD, 2022b).

With regard to Tajikistan, the World Bank reports that while 98% of households in Dushanbe have access to improved water on-premises, only 61% report that water from this source is available when needed (World Bank, 2019; OECD, 2022b).

Despite Moldova's seemingly good access rates to water (98.5% in urban and 85% in rural settlements), the World Bank estimates that almost one million Moldovans (close to 40% of the population) rely on polluted shallow wells for their drinking water. Furthermore, 80% of the wells are not compliant with drinking water norms, because they contain nitrates and have microbiological contamination (Smets et al., Reference Smets2020) as cited in (OECD, 2022b).

There are inconsistencies with Uzbekistan JMP data, which show a national access level of 25.7% for sanitation, with urban and rural averages of 99.8% and 99.7%, respectively. This pattern (where the national access level does not add up in context of the reported urban/rural breakdowns) is present across multiple survey years (OECD, 2022b).

Another issue with access data is that it is not updated regularly (for which reason SDG 6 is classified as a Tier 2 indicator). A decade may pass between reporting. In Ukraine, the population using at least basic drinking water services in 2017 was reported as 93.8% and the population using at least basic sanitation services was 96.2% (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2021), and both these services in 2022 were reported as 93.9% and 97.7%, respectively (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2022). Considering the serious damage and destruction to water supply and sanitation infrastructure that occurred during 2022 as described earlier, it is questionable whether these numbers were much higher in 2021 and reduced to 2022 reported levels as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.

In Kazakhstan, the population using at least basic drinking water services in 2020 was reported as 95% and the population using at least basic sanitation services was 98% (World Bank, 2020c; 2020d; Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2022).

In the EECCA, some countries have provided detailed reporting on their SDG progress, either through the Voluntary National Reporting or through other documents (e.g., Georgia's 2019 'Brief Report on the Progress Under the Protocol on Water and Health'). Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic and Moldova are among the most active in incorporating a focus on SDG indicators and/or rural WSS into strategic planning.

In Georgia, the population using at least basic drinking water services in 2020 was reported as 97% and the population using at least basic sanitation services was 94%. In Armenia, the population using at least basic drinking water services in 2020 was reported as 100% and the population using at least basic sanitation services was 86% (World Bank, 2020c; 2020d) as cited by (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2022).

The Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the Kyrgyz Republic Report provides particularly detailed information on SDG 6 progress in Kyrgyzstan (United Nations, 2020). The VNR claims that the Kyrgyz Republic uses just 20 to 25% of its water reserves and that of the total amount of water withdrawn, 95% is used for irrigation and agricultural needs, 1.5% is used by industry and the remaining 3% is utilised by other customers, including for the delivery of drinking water.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, the population using at least basic drinking water services in 2017 was reported as 87.5% and the population using at least basic sanitation services was 96.5% (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2021), and both these services in 2020 were reported as 91.7% and 97.9%, respectively (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2022). However, only 66.8% of rural households had drinking water supply located within the household. Nearly 33.2% of residents spend up to 30 min or more per day on water collection. Moreover, in 56% of cases, women over 15 are the primary suppliers of water for their households. There is a significant disparity in access to adequate sanitary conditions between urban and rural populations, as coverage was 67.7% in cities and only 13.4% in rural areas in 2018 (OECD, 2022b). People using safely managed sanitation services, including handwashing devices with soap and water, made up 96.3% of the population in 2018 and increased to 97.9% in 2020 (Sachs et al., Reference Sachs2022).

Key factors impacting the progress of SDG 6 and Agenda 2030

Some of the frequently discussed critical factors impacting the SDG's progress include climate change (drought), population growth and a high rate of urbanisation. These factors are highly relevant in developing regions like SSA. For example, the recent drought (severe water shortage) in the Horn of Africa has resulted in the loss of millions of livestock and disrupted the livelihood of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists. In addition to the above, some of the more recently debated topics impacted on SDG 6 and Agenda 2030 are discussed below.

Impacts of Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts across high- and low-income countries. The crisis had a particularly negative impact on low-income and vulnerable countries, and they may take longer to recover due to limited access to financing. Although richer countries may manage to support recovery expenditure through debt, low-income countries do not have the same access to international financial systems to finance essential services including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The global response through emergency financial assistance during the pandemic helped maintain the provision of WASH services in some countries. The long-term impacts on progress towards the SDG 6 targets are yet to be understood. On the other hand, self-reported handwashing behaviour was noted to be very high during the pandemic period (Finmark Trust, 2020; Water Aid Nepal and MITRA Samaj, 2020; USAID, 2020). Across water, sanitation and hygiene, it is unclear if pandemic-related changes (whether positive or negative) in household behaviour will be sustained in the long term.

A study across seven LMICs (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Rwanda and Senegal) reported COVID-19-driven water access difficulties across the urban-to-rural spectrum, but there is limited information to confirm the magnitude and disparities across the geographies. In the short term, consumer investments in sanitation is expected to decline resulting in a) slower rate of adoption of improved toilet and b) possible reversion to open defecation in case of unaffordability of pit-emptying services.

Russia-Ukraine war

The Ukraine-Russia conflict triggered a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, with the displacement of many millions within the country and over 7 million refugees crossing the borders into neighbouring countries. By October 2022, damages to water/wastewater infrastructure and electricity networks in Ukraine affected access to drinking water for 6 million people, and 16 million people experienced disruption to their water, sanitation and hygiene services, exposing them to an elevated risk of WASH-related diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, hepatitis and many skin infections (UNOCHA, 2022). In mid-2022, the global economy was projected at 3.1% and global inflation at 6.7%. The economy was down by 0.9% from the 4.0% growth projected in January 2022, and the inflation has more than doubled compared to the 2.9% average inflation during 2010-2020 (UNDESA, 2022).

In spite of the implementation challenges, we have seen significant improvement from 2015 to 2019, where the world progressed on the SDG Index at an average rate of 0.55 points a year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the Russia-Ukraine war, for the second year in a row, the world was no longer making progress with the average SDG Index stagnated at 66.0 points as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 also shows the SDG Index for different geographic regions and income groups with the overall progress on the SDG Index marginally improving in 2022 across all these regions and income groups.

These events had a significant impact on the society, the environment and the global economy with hundreds of thousands of lives lost. These impacts have impeded the prospects of a recovery of the already fragile economy from the pandemic globally and particularly for LMICs creating sharp increases in food, energy and medical supplies, and disruptions to water and sanitation services due to fuel shortages and power cuts (USAID-Tetra Tech, 2021).

Inconsistencies and lack of data on indicators

In 2017, 84 (36%) out of the 231 indicators did not have any internationally established methodology or standards. It is only since 2020, that a major effort by the global statistics community, the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on SDG indicators, considered the methodological development sufficiently advanced for all of the indicators to be tracked.

Although standards are now available, most countries' statistical systems appear to be struggling to fill data gaps on SDG indicators. Many countries lack data on one or more criteria of safely managed drinking water and sanitation, and sometimes there are ambiguities in the available data. There has often been expressed frustration by water sector participants around the world that water quality and quantity data are gathered by many actors but not openly shared to improve public understanding of the water situation and to support decision-making. (AusAID-QUT-NWSDB, 2014; BOM, 2017). Additionally, differences in the definitions used for safely managed sanitation in national data sources make comparison between countries difficult (WHO / UNICEF, 2021). Some of the issues related to data gaps and inconsistencies are discussed below. For the period 2015-2019, on average, countries had reported one or more data points on only 55% of the SDG indicators. No country reported data on more than 90% of the SDG indicators, while 22 countries reported on less than 25% of the SDG indicators (Kitzmueller et al., Reference Kitzmueller, Stacy and Mahler2021). In 2022, the average UN Member State had reported on 8.3 out of 12 SDG 6 global indicators (sanitation and hygiene are reported separately as 6.2.1a and 6.2.1b making into 12 indicators), and only 50% had reported on nine or more indicators ( www.sdg6data.org/en/about/data-gaps). Also, in 2022, an OECD discussion paper highlighted that access data (both SDG 6.1 and 6.2) reported by countries to international organisations did not necessarily reveal the full picture or reflect water and sanitation quality, and is often incomplete (e.g., often do not reveal widespread problems with reliability of supply, quality of tap water or affordability of the service). Moreover, access rates reported to JMP sometimes do not match with access rates reported by countries to development partners or in different publications. Such inconsistencies in reported figures, observed even in countries with generally very good statistics, might be assigned partly to differences in terms and definitions used by JMP and other actors. But in some countries, there might be also incentives to appear better than their neighbours (OECD, 2022a).

Data gaps influence how we assess progress towards the 2030 Agenda - if not carefully understood, they may lead to biased conclusions. For instance, if the SDG reporting framework is incomplete or not up to date, or fails to represent all segments of the population, any inference about the efficiency of policies risks being flawed. The same is true if diagnostic tools cannot provide a comprehensive assessment of the most recent trends, especially in times of uncertainty. While available data make it possible to cover 136 of the 169 targets, some of the data do not properly gauge current outcomes nor performance over time (OECD, 2022a).

To complement regulatory data, an increasing number of LMICs have integrated water quality testing through multi-topic household surveys (WHO / UNICEF, 2020). Although this represents an ambitious new benchmark and a significant step in global monitoring of drinking water services, analysis of the data available from 27 countries showed that many countries lacked national data on the availability and quality of drinking water. The results also showed that E. coli was commonly detected at the PoC (16-90%), and was more likely at the PoU (19-99%), with possible E. coli contamination between PoC and PoU. On average, 84% of households used an improved drinking water source, and 31% met all of the 'safely managed drinking water' criteria. E. coli contamination was the primary reason for failing the criteria in 15 out of the 27 countries (Bain et al., Reference Bain, Johnston, Khan, Hancioglu and Slaymaker2021). The study also highlighted that water quality testing in household surveys should complement as they were meant to and not compete with ongoing efforts to strengthen surveillance of water quality by regulatory authorities.

Data reported in JMP is provided to WHO/UNICEF by national statistics offices or other national bodies conducting surveys and collecting data. The purpose of the JMP database is to track progress towards WSS indicators and allow for comparisons across countries, and between rural and urban areas levels of access.

In many countries, the numbers reported to JMP appear to be overly optimistic, given the widespread problems with reliability and quality. The access figures do not necessarily reflect water and sanitation quality and may simply indicate that the infrastructure is in place, not whether it is still functioning, or people are able to draw water, for example, when needed.

Access data (SDG 6.1 and 6.2) is often incomplete or may conceal as much as it reveals. The headline numbers for access do not always reveal the full picture. Access rates reported to JMP sometimes do not match access rates reported by countries to development partners or in different publications.

Some technological recommendations to boost SDG 6 progress

Incorporate data on water quality as a key parameter for tracking SDG 6.1 progress

It is important to note that although by definition 'safely managed drinking water' is supposed to be free of microbial and chemical contamination, there is no water quality data available for reporting on safely managed systems, and therefore, the recommendation should also extend to data on safely managed drinking water services for progress reporting. The integration of supplementary data on water quality testing into household surveys during 2014-2020 from 27 countries showed that many countries lacked national data on the quality of drinking water, and there was a large proportion of the population that was exposed to very high levels of E. coli contamination (Bain et al., Reference Bain, Johnston, Khan, Hancioglu and Slaymaker2021).

A recent study to assess the water quality parameters of basic water services in Amhara and Afar regions of Ethiopia was conducted by (Gemeda et al., Reference Gemeda, Springer, Gari, Birhan and Bedane2021). Their study was based on thermotolerant (or faecal) coliform (TTC), and in their sample of 111 water services, the maximum TTC counts were 71 CFU/100 ml and the mean was 4 CFU/100 ml. TTC was detected in 44 (39.64%) (n = 111) basic water services. They recommended incorporating water quality as a key parameter to better track international progress towards 'clean water and sanitation (SDG 6)'.

A recent microbial water quality study in India (Rayasam et al., Reference Rayasam, Rao and Ray2020) concluded that even when water quality monitoring and testing infrastructure are in place, low institutional capacity and the pressure to not 'fail' the expected water quality standards can result in the failure to accurately report bacterial water quality. Their study, based on the Compartment Bag Test (CBT) protocol, found 30% of the tested 150 samples had bacterial contamination, whereas the same samples were tested by the local municipality and reported having no contamination based on their bacterial testing. They elaborate that low- and middle-income country utilities are often under pressure to meet state and national drinking water quality targets, even when they are under-resourced to meet these targets. Also, they suggested that 'ranking' countries on the basis of the current SDG 6 indicators may impose indirect pressure on indicator-specific custodian agencies to inaccurately report water quality monitoring results. In response, they proposed that the progress along the service ladder, as measured by the JMP, should be incorporated into the indicators of SDG 6.1.

Scaling-up implementation of WHO water and sanitation safety planning to ensure 'safely managed drinking water and sanitation'

Water quality testing is an important component of water supply system management; however, microbial water quality compliance is the absence of end-point E. coli in the test results, which is not just enough to ensure water safety. The end-point bacteriological water quality testing is a reactive approach where the problem has already occurred, and it could be 'too little too late' if consumers have already consumed the contaminated water. Also, it may not be clear from the outset what went wrong - where and when - and the water supplier may not know to rectify the problem immediately without detailed investigations that would take more time. Furthermore, E. coli is used as a marker for the presence of faecal contamination and the possible presence of microbial pathogens. However, E. coli is not a suitable indicator to verify the absence of pathogens such as Cryptosporidium or Giardia. Cryptosporidium oocysts may survive chlorine disinfection and may be present in the absence of E. coli (NHMRC, NRMMC, 2011) as cited by (Hasan, Reference Hasan2019). While endemic in the vast majority of developing countries, cryptosporidium also has the potential to cause waterborne epidemics and large-scale outbreaks in both developing and developed nations (Efstratiou et al., Reference Efstratiou, Ongerth and Karanis2017). In developing countries, there is virtually no organised system to identify, let alone analyse, such events. As a result, information regarding waterborne parasitic protozoan outbreaks due to pathogens such as cryptosporidium is insufficient in developing countries.

The Water Safety Planning (WSP) tool is a proactive management system to ensure safe drinking water by introducing barriers and management systems in place to stop contamination before it happens. With such a risk management approach, water providers do not need to entirely rely on end-point E. coli testing to confirm water safety. In 2004, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that water suppliers develop and implement WSP as the most effective way to protect drinking water quality from contamination and safeguard public health. The WSP process monitors the entire water supply system from catchment to consumer. Therefore, it ensures the provision of safe and clean drinking water through a variety of interventions at the level of households, community, water supplier and regulator, often with excellent outcomes. A step-by-step approach on how to develop and implement a WSP has been published by Bartram et al. ( Reference Bartram, Corrales, Davidson, Deere, Drury, Gordon, Howard, Rinehold and Stevens2009).

Water safety plans (WSPs) represent an important opportunity to contribute to the realisation of the SDGs and to the human right to water, provided that equity is duly considered. Described in the WHO Guidelines for drinking water quality as the most effective way to ensure the safety of drinking water supplies. WSP implementation has increased markedly over the last decade representing every region of the world covering low- and high-income countries (Payden, Reference Payden2017; Setty et al., Reference Setty, Kayser, Bowling, Enault, Loret, Serra, Alonso, Pla Mateu and Bartram2017; Baum and Bartram, Reference Baum and Bartram2018; Kanyesigye et al., Reference Kanyesigye, Marks, Nakanjako, Kansiime and Ferrero2019; Li et al., Reference Li, Smith, Cohen, Wang, Li, Zhang, Zhong and Zhang2020).

Simply having a WSP or a risk management plan will not suffice to ensure water safety. Effective implementation of WSPs is critical in achieving the desired benefits of reliable provision of safe drinking water (Hasan, Reference Hasan2019). A scoring system of 0-100% has been proposed as an indicator of the degree of WSP implementation rather than simply reporting the number of WSPs implemented in any country or by the entity responsible for drinking water supply to the population.

WSPs have been implemented in at least 93 countries representing every region of the world, with 69 countries reporting to have policy instruments either in place or under development that promote or require WSPs or an equivalent (WHO & IWA, 2017; WHO, 2019). It is expected that this will contribute significantly to improvements in water quality reporting and progress on the SDG indicator 6.1.1, 'safely managed drinking water for all by 2030' (Herschan et al., Reference Herschan2020).

WHO has similarly developed tools for Sanitation Safety Plans (SSPs) to assist key sanitation stakeholders ensure all sanitation systems are managed to meet health objectives. The implementation goal of SSPs is to (i) ensure systematic identification and management of health risks along the sanitation chain; (ii) guide investment based on actual risks, to promote health benefits and minimise adverse health impacts; (iii) provide assurance to authorities and the public on the safety of sanitation-related products and services (WHO, 2016; 2022).

SSP is still a rather new approach, and unlike the WSPs, its implementation is less advanced, particularly in LMICs. WHO has completed pilots in Haiti, India, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Uganda and Vietnam. The Kampala Capital City Authority and the National Water Sewerage Corporation-mandated entities to provide water and sanitation services in Kampala, Uganda, are already working towards expanding SSP from the pilot and implementing it on a city-wide level. Similarly, many cities in India, as part of its Swachh Bharat Mission, have started developing city sanitation plans and made SSPs central to this initiative, with plans to integrate SSP in future programming (Winkler et al., Reference Winkler, Jackson, Sutherland, Payden, Lim, Srikantaiah, Fuhrimann and Medlicott2017). The SSP approach can make an important contribution to improvements in safely managed sanitation, but this is yet to be proven.

Conclusions

Although too slow, and unequal across countries and SDGs, progress was made globally on SDG 6 between 2015 and 2020. In 2020, 2 billion people (26%) lacked safely managed drinking water, and 3.6 billion (46%) lacked safely managed sanitation services.

From 2015 to 2020, the global population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 70% to 74%, with the largest numbers of people gaining access in Central, East and Southern Asian countries. Despite this progress, another 2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water in 2020, including 771 million who were without even basic drinking water. Half of those lacking basic drinking water services (387 million) live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The world population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 47% to 54% from 2015 to 2020. However, 3.6 billion people still lacked safely managed sanitation in 2020, including 1.7 billion who were without even basic sanitation. Of these people, 494 million practised open defecation, down from 739 million in 2015. While the world is on track to eliminate open defecation by 2030, achieving universal access to safely managed sanitation by 2030 will require a quadrupling of current rates of progress.

The proportion of the global population with basic hygiene rose from 67% to 70% from 2015 to 2020. This means that, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2.3 billion people worldwide (29%) still lacked a basic handwashing facility with soap and water at home, and 670 million had no handwashing.

Although 'safely managed drinking water' is supposed to be free of microbial and chemical contamination, such water quality data are lacking when reporting on safely managed systems, and therefore, it is recommended that these data be incorporated for progress reporting on population using safely managed drinking water services.

The WHO WSPs and sanitation safety plans (SSP) approaches have been proven to work effectively with incremental improvements to safely managed water, sanitation and health services. The scaling up of the implementation of WSP and SSP from current levels would present a great opportunity to achieve the goal of safely managed water and sanitation for all and the realisation of the SDGs.

In many LMICs, it is challenging to obtain accurate data on key SDG indicators. As reported by many of these countries, they have common problems with data collection, which are mainly due to a lack of technical capacity, lack of resources and data protection. Gathering accurate data requires more resources and competencies, and it is important for countries to coordinate with local and international stakeholders to develop standards for collecting data on SDGs. This strategy will help with efficient implementation and monitoring as well. An immediate task will be for stakeholders to start setting aside a baseline for national targets and indicators. This can be done with the help of professional technical assistance and funding from the international community. Awareness creation on the indicators at different levels of government is necessary, as this will help the governments to gain the trust of the stakeholders. Finally, this will ensure efficient uptake of policies by the local people.

The COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical rivalries, combined with corruption, particularly in low-middle-income countries, have impeded the prospects of a recovery of the already fragile economies and created sharp increases in food, energy and medical supplies, and disruptions to water and sanitation services due to fuel shortages and power cuts. Diplomacy, peace and global cooperation will continue to be important preconditions in supporting the achievement of SDG 6 globally. In addition, working within a framework of sound ethical foundation combined with transparency and holistic financial accountability within government institutions is a fundamental condition for making real progress on sustainable development locally.

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Progress in delivering SDG6: Safe water and sanitation | Cambridge Prisms: Water | Cambridge Core

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Progress in delivering SDG6: Safe water and sanitation - Volume 1

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The salvation army has been a great help in providing others in need with cleaner water and better hygiene in different countries. For example in north America they help families of low income by paying their water bills. In Kenya, the Salvation army helped through a drought and provided food for schools in return for lower fees. In Bangladesh, the salvation army provided hand sanitizers and better hygiene products during the pandemic in order to decrease the spread.

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Sustainable Development Goal 6 seeks to ensure the availability of sustainable water and sanitation for everyone, everywhere by the year 2030. This goal aims to ensure access to clean drinking water, hygiene education, and protect water-related ecosystems to avoid unnecessary disease and death, as well as the unnecessary destruction of our natural resources.

Ensure access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.

End open defecation and provide access to sanitation and hygiene, particularly for women and girls and those in vulnerable circumstances.

Improve water quality, wastewater treatment, and safe reuse, which involves reducing pollution, eliminating dumping of hazardous materials, and increasing recycling initiatives around the world.

Increase water-use efficiency and ensure freshwater supplies to decrease water scarcity and increase water supply for those suffering from water scarcity.

Implement integrated water resources management for the efficient, equitable, and sustainable use of water.

Protect and ensure water-related ecosystems, particularly freshwater, including lakes, rivers, groundwater, wetlands, and mountains.

Expand water and sanitation support to developing countries, encompassing the expansion of international cooperation and capacity-building support, as well water and sanitation programmes such as water harvesting, desalination, and wastewater treatment.

In July 2022, the annual High Level Political Forum was held to assess the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, to be achieved by 2030. The statistics and data presented in the progress report following the forum provides some of the most up-to-date information regarding Sustainable Development Goal 6, Clean Water and Sanitation.

Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and survival yet may be considered a luxury due to these current global figures. Decades of water mismanagement, misuse, and overextraction, coupled with rapid population growth, has drastically increased the demand for water. Progress towards this goal must quadruple if it is to be achieved by 2030. ¹¹

Climate change has exacerbated existing challenges and is linked to the degradation of water-related ecosystems, water scarcity, and natural disasters which impact access to clean water. This has impacted access to water in a variety of sectors, including agriculture, industry, and energy sectors. ¹² Water scarcity will also lead to an estimated 700 million climate refugees by 2030. ¹³

733 million people live in a region with high and critical levels of water stress . Levels of water stress have increased since 2015, registering highs of over 75% in Southern and Central Asia and have registered a critical water stress level of over 100% in Northern Africa. ¹⁶

Despite worrying statistics, during the period of 2015-2020, safely managed drinking water services increased from 70% to 74%. Additionally, the population with access to safely managed sanitation increased by 7% and access to handwashing facilities in the home increased to 71%. However, the rate of this progress must increase in order to achieve universal coverage. ¹⁷

For 3 billion people worldwide, the quality of water they rely upon is unknown due to lack of monitoring. ¹⁸ Globally, the rate of implementation of improved water management resources needs to double to ensure sustainable and equitable distribution of water. ¹⁹

The past few centuries have seen the degradation of wetland ecosystems, with up to 85% of wetland expanse lost. ²⁰ Wetlands are fundamental for preserving biodiversity and serve an essential function for those living in areas dependent on wetlands for agriculture and food production. ²¹ Furthermore, wetland ecosystems provide valuable climate change mitigation as they can retain much larger emissions of methane and carbon monoxide than their terrestrial counterparts. ²²

The Covid-19 Pandemic had a catastrophic effect on progress towards each of the Sustainable Development Goals and Clean Water and Sanitation is no exception. However, what makes SDG 6 unique is its focus on hygiene and sanitation which was an integral focus throughout the course of the pandemic. Covid-19 brought these issues to the forefront, particularly handwashing. Despite a 4% increase between 2015 and 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic 2.3 billion households lacked basic handwashing facilities, over half of which were in the sub-Saharan Africa region. ²³ The investment in accessible and sustainable hygiene is essential to our response to pandemics now and in the future.

The Salvation Army provides water and utility bill assistance throughout North America to help those in need pay their bills and receive fundamental utilities. One such program in Birmingham, Alabama, the H20 Foundation, which is managed and administered by The Salvation Army provides aid for low-income, disabled, and elderly residents who need assistance paying their water and sewer bills, as well as offering plumbing repair. ²⁴ In an area where nearly a quarter of the population lives under the poverty line, this a vital service in providing clean water and sanitation. ²⁵

Water is essential for agriculture. Climate change has impacted the scope and frequency of irregular and sometimes destructive weather events, particularly those related to water. For the past 5 years, Kenya has suffered from extreme drought that has doubled the level of food insecurity in the country between 2021 and 2022. ²⁶ Agriculture in the region has been severely impacted, with harvests failing and livestock dying. In response, The Salvation Army has established the "Food for Fees" program in Northern which provides food to schools for students in exchange for lower school fees. This program will serve 9 secondary schools and 50 primary schools and provide nutrition while cutting the financial burden for education on students and their families. ²⁷ In addition, where water is not available, The Salvation Army will be addressing that need with their tanker based in Turkana. This case is just one example of how water stress causes a ripple effect which decreases the quality of life for many.

During the pandemic, The International Salvation Army took action and provided emergency services where there was a need, from medical to food assistance. In Bangladesh, our organization distributed 10,000 bottles of hand sanitiser throughout the community, as well as installing handwashing facilities. In vulnerable communities, The Salvation Armu also provided over a thousand hygiene packs to try and minimize the impact of the pandemic.

As an international non-profit organisation, The Salvation Army participates in International Development Programme throughout the 133 countries in which we are present. With the help of the Australian Government, Salvation Army Australia has implemented a food and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) program in Northern Malawi. ²⁸ This programme helps train farmers in Conservation Agriculture, increasing food security and household income for many.

Each year, the international community celebrates World Water Day to celebrate water and raise awareness of Sustainable Development Goal 6. To commemorate these celebrations, The Salvation Army in South Africa drilled boreholes for two communities in the province of Mpumalanga. In an area that is increasingly experiencing water stress and relies on agriculture, these boreholes will provide essential, life-giving resources to residents.

1 Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation. The Global Goals. (2022, March 15). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/6-clean-water-and-sanitation/
2 Ibid.
3 SDG goal 6: Clean water and sanitation. UNICEF DATA. (2021, February 17). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://data.unicef.org/sdgs/goal-6-clean-water-sanitation/
4 Access to drinking water. UNICEF DATA. (2022, October 24). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://data.unicef.org/topic/water-and-sanitation/drinking-water/
5 Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation. The Global Goals. (2022, March 15). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/6-clean-water-and-sanitation/
⁶World Health Organization. (n.d.). Diarrhoea. World Health Organization. Retrieved November 18, 2022, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/diarrhoea#tab=tab_1
⁷United Nations Statistics Division. (n.d.). SDG indicators. United Nations. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-06/
⁸United Nations. (n.d.). Water and Sanitation - United Nations Sustainable Development. United Nations. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation/
⁹United Nations Statistics Division. (2022, July 7). SDG indicators. United Nations. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/
10 Ibid.
¹¹United Nations. (2022, July). Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/
12 Ibid.
¹³United Nations Statistics Division. (n.d.). SDG indicators. United Nations. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-06/
¹⁴United Nations. (2022, July). Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/
¹⁵defined by the European Environment Agency as "when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use". Water stress. European Environment Agency. (2018, November 8). Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.eea.europa.eu/archived/archived-content-water-topic/wise-help-centre/glossary-definitions/water-stress
¹⁶United Nations. (2022, July). Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
²¹United Nations. (2022). Extended report - SDG indicators. United Nations. Retrieved November 22, 2022, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/extended-report/
22 Ibid.
²³Hygiene and hand washing statistics. UNICEF DATA. (2022, September 6). Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://data.unicef.org/topic/water-and-sanitation/hygiene/
²⁴H20 Foundation Water Bill Assistance. Salvation Army of Birmingham AL. (2020, April 8). Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://salvationarmyalm.org/birmingham/h2o-foundation-water-bill-assistance/#:~:text=If%20you%20need%20assistance%20with%20paying%20your%20water,Army%20at%20205.328.2420%20to%20see%20if%20you%20qualify.
²⁵U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: Birmingham City, Alabama. United States Census Bureau. (2022, September 15). Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/birminghamcityalabama/PST045221
²⁶Kenya territories tackle drought crisis. The Salvation Army International - Kenya Territories Tackle Drought Crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/news/inb021022-kenya-territories-tackle-drought-crisis
27 Ibid.
²⁸Improving access to income and stability through conservation agriculture. Improving Access to Income and Stability through Conservation Agriculture | International Development | The Salvation Army. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/international-development/learn/news-and-stories/improving-access-to-income-and-stability-through-conservation-agriculture/

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this webpage contains contents from the resource

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International Social Justice Commission - Clean Water and Sanitation - SDG 6

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This webpage contains contents from the resource,

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If the SDG 6 wants to be achieved by 2030 then it would've needed 114 billion dollars a year from 2016-2030. The amount of money needed is triple the amount of what is being given, so water.org made a plan where they create partnerships in order to be able to raise money to help the millions in need. Partnering has allowed them to raise over 5 billion dollars. Even with this amount of support through companies the goal is not that likely to be obtained by the desired time frame unless more awareness is raised for this problem.

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Meeting a critical global goal

Globally, 2.2 billion people lack access to safe water-a drinking water source that is accessible within a 30-minute round trip from their home. Even more people, 3.5 billion, do not have access to a safe toilet-a toilet or latrine that is not shared with other households.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 calls for clean water and sanitation for all. According to the latest development reports, the world is not on track to achieve this goal by 2030. It will cost approximately $114 billion a year between 2016 and 2030 to achieve the goal. The amount needed is three times more than what is currently being applied each year to solve the water crisis. This is where Water.org comes in. We have a solution that addresses the gap in financing. Through access to affordable financing, we can empower millions in need with safe water and sanitation.

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SDG 6: Our Mission for Clean Water and Sanitation | Water.org

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Discover how Water.org's innovative solutions are closing the financial gap to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, ensuring clean water and sanitation for all.

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Every year for the water day a new theme is chosen based on topics that relate to clean water, sanitation and hygiene also known as "WASH". Around this day every year a report from the UN is released based on the world water. This report includes people still lacking clean water and healthy sanitation throughout the world. This year for 2025 the theme was "save our glaciers" as it is the first year where climate change has been correlated to carbon emissions.

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So learn where your water is flowing from and where it is flowing to. How do you affect groundwater viability when you turn on the tap?

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Every year on March 22 World water day happens. Water Day helps raise awareness to the billions of people living without clean water. Every year this day has a theme, for instance, 2023 the theme was accelerating change, in 2024 it was leveraging water for peace. I've never heard of water day until now, but if it was promoted more and talked about more, then a wider amount of people would be able to understand the struggles some people have to go through.

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Goal 6 from the sustainable development goals is to have water for everyone by 2030. Either way the goal is by 2030, billions of people still lack access to clean drinkable water. People have to take time out from their daily lives just to get water for their family. This burden isn't something that anyone should go through, especially children taking time out of their education just to get something that is a right to have.

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How can we improve access to clean drinking water and sanitation around the world?

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For this World Water Day, our team members brainstorm ways to achieve the UN’s goal of water for all by 2030.

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Over 2 billion people lack access to drinkable water. Thousands of kids die everyday due to diseases of the lack of water. Almost 2 billion people live without the proper sanitation to dispose waste while almost a billion people still dispose of human waste in the outside. Being able to obtain cleaner water and hygiene practices would allow families to thrive.

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Global water crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help

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There's nothing more essential than clean water, yet a global water crisis means people are struggling to get the quantity and quality of water they need.

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The text says "Nearly half of the world’s population, 4.2 billion people, lack access to a hygienic sanitation facility" This shows that various amounts of people suffer with this problem. There are people who do their business outside. Those people are said to be one of the hardest to reach. There are thousands of deaths caused by diseases from not having proper sanitation, as well as obtaining a disease through another person with poor sanitation.

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Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science

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The Economic and Health Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation

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Nearly half of the world's population, 4.2 billion people, lack access to a hygienic sanitation facility. About 673 million people regularly defecate outdoors, in the open. Many of those who still lack access to sanitation services are among the most challenging populations to reach: the poorest, the most remote, and the most marginalized.

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Similar to poor water, sanitation also transmits diseases. Having an unsanitary way of disposing of waste can affect others too. Sharing utilities and objects with other households can also affect the transmission of these diseases. There are various people who still lack basic sanitation such as toilets, which is something that is hard to imagine cause almost everyone has access to them in America.

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Global Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

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DYK preventing disease means a proper place to use the bathroom, something billions of people lack?

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Poor water and hygiene correlates to poverty

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Poor water and hygiene correlates to poverty

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Over 2 billion people lack access to sanitation or water. The document states "poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world, especially for women and girls who spend endless hours fetching water over long distances." This basically says women have to travel different distances to access clean water which impacts their home life as they aren't to be there to help. Not only does it affect their home life it also affects their educations because they take time out of their day to get water. Other than education, it can also affect their social life due to not being able to socialize with friends more.

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During emergencies , the water and sanitation systems that communities depend on often collapse or become enormously overtaxed. People are often traumatized, hungry, dehydrated and exhausted, and, therefore, they are more vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. Repairs or expansions take time, time that people who need them to stay alive don't have. Without water, people can't last much beyond three days.

Access to clean water is also deeply linked to poverty . Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world, especially for women and girls who spend endless hours fetching water over long distances.

Clean water and a clean environment shouldn't be a luxury. We have to make safe water and sanitation available to everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live. We simply can't end poverty without it.
Main photo: Tegid Cartwright/Oxfam

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Water and sanitation | Oxfam International

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During emergencies , the water and sanitation systems that communities depend on often collapse or become enormously overtaxed. People are often traumatized, hungry, dehydrated and exhausted, and, therefore, they are more vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. Repairs or expansions take time, time that people who need them to stay alive don't have.

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Being able to access water can allow children and mothers to live their lives more fully. Most days mothers and kids would walk many miles just to get accessible water to drink and use. Children would be able to go to school and walk around freely without carrying water if something was down to help their systems. Rotary has created programs to support and create action towards helping those with problems involving unhealthy water.

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Clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education are basic necessities for a healthy environment and a productive life.

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Water contains diseases that can be transmitted. Diseases that can be preventable are able to be caught by drinking poor water and having poor sanitation. Billions of people face these diseases and sometimes experience death due to them. Diarrhoeal include, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio, which cause most of the deaths.

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WHO fact sheet on water: key facts, access to water, water and health

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Everyone has a right and deserves to access clean water. Water should be affordable and should be able to reach communities for prices that aren't insanely high. No one should be left out from having clean water to be able to drink, cook, bathe and ect. There are thousands of deaths caused due to bad water and hygiene which is why I feel that its a topic that people should pay attention more to.

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Access to water and sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights - fundamental to everyone's health, dignity and prosperity. However, billions of people are still living without safely managed water and sanitation. Marginalized groups are often overlooked, and sometimes face discrimination, as they try to access the water and sanitation services they need. Governments must take a human rights-based approach (HRBA) to water and sanitation improvements, so that no one gets left behind.

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Human Rights to Water and Sanitation | UN-Water

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I've traveled outside of the United States and where I've gone I saw how not everyone has clean water. These places considered buying water as a luxury and instead of buying water, they continued to drink water that contained bacteria. While traveling and drinking this water, I got stomach sick and couldn't enjoy the trip as much. While also realizing that everyone has a different lifestyle on how they stay clean, not everyone showers everyday or even washes their hands before eating. This reason is why I want to research more about water filtering and how people live with certain sanitation.