United Nations SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

The United Nations set up seventeen goals in 2015, related to global development, to be achieved by 2030, which work as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all and are collectively known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The sixth on the list, Clean Water and Sanitation, which has its objective to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030. The crisis of access to clean water is still a concern with over 2.3 billion individuals living in water-stressed countries. Similarly, 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and as such we are a long way from reaching this goal. According to United Nations, 129 countries aren’t on the track to fulfilling the goal by 2030 and the current rate of progress needs to double.

Often, when SDG goals are discussed, irrespective of the forums, the specific sub-goals are rarely discussed and hence not addressed.  The awareness of the following sub-goals is crucial since they help us plan, analyse and determine the fulfilment of the goal of ensuring clean water and sanitation.

1. Safe and affordable drinking water

2. Ending open defecation and providing access to sanitation and hygiene

3. Improving water quality, wastewater treatment, and safe reuse

4. Increasing water-use efficiency and ensuring freshwater supplies

5. Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

6. Protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems

7. Expanding water and sanitation support to developing countries

8. Supporting local engagement in water and sanitation management

These sub-goals provide an overview of the various areas that need to be worked upon; these are multifaceted and there is a need to investigate these holistically and address issues like improving accessibility, making the commodity affordable for all, and bringing stakeholders together to ensure community development.

Apart from these, the fulfilment of this SDG goal would be responsible for fulfilling the other SDG goals of the UN viz. health and wellbeing, industry, economic growth, sustainable cities, and communities, etc as it would help in creating a better platform to focus on other goals.

Based on these, individuals, organisations, and governments globally need to base their strategies on the goals and sub-goals and bring in a focussed approach to the eradication of social evils in specific communities.

In this series of articles, we will discuss each SDG in detail to understand the role of countries and stakeholders in fulfilling these sustainable development goals.