Access to Water and Sanitation – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Today’s water and sanitation crisis is rather an issue of access than of scarcity. It is mainly rooted in poverty, power and inequality, not in physical availability (UNDP 2010). More people in the world own cell phones than have access to a toilet. And as cities and slums grow at increasing rates, the situation worsens. Every day, lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills thousands, leaving others with reduced quality of life (WATER.ORG 2011).

Only two out of five people have access to safe sanitation services; and around seven in ten have access to safe drinking water service (WHO & UNICEF 2017). Over 340,000 under five children die from diarrhoeal diseases yearly because of poor sanitation and hygiene as well as unsafe drinking water (WHO & UNICEF 2015).

Access to water and sanitation refers not only to its quantity but also to its quality. How far the quality and especially the functionality are considered to evaluate the access is a controversial question (see below).

Considering that the growing world population together with climatic changes might worsen the water scarcity for some regions, the promotion of access to water and sanitation is a steadily increasing challenge.

Water is needed for all aspects of life. Without safe drinking water, humans, animals and plants cannot survive. And still, half of the people in the developing world are suffering from diseases associated with inadequate provision of water supply and sanitation facilities (see also water sanitation and health). Every day around 1000 children die from diarrhoea (see also water-related diseases). Further, 443 million school days are lost annually worldwide due to diarrhoeal diseases (WATERAID.ORG 2011). Statistics from 2016 shows that 190 million people live under the risk of trachoma blindness, which is associated with lack of safe water for washing face and hands (WHO N.D.). Furthermore, inadequate sanitation causes economic losses (WSP 2010) and access to imoproved saitation is seen to be one of the most important development drivers (UNDP 2010).

Access to water and sanitation, the prevention of polluting water, and improved hygiene are essential in improving the living standards of anyone on this planet. Furthermore, adequate water resources are essential for food production and thus for proper nutrition.

In December 2015, the  the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development  was launched as a result of meetings between World Leaders in September of the same year. . The new agenda calls for achieving the new 17 Sustainable Development Goals within the next 15 years for all people and countries. The SDGs came in as an improvement for the MDGs, which didn’t cover all aspects of the holistic development approach. While the MDGs covered only eight issues (mainly poverty and hunger, primary education, gender equality and women empowerment, child mortality, maternal health, combat diseases, environmental sustainability and global partnership for development), the SDGs are more far comprehensive and thorough. 

At the headquarters of the United Nations, members from different countries worked together to set the new 17 Sustainable Development Goals to combat poverty and hunger as well as promote for good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, access to clean water and sanitation and affordable clean energy. The SDGs also covered topics related to economic growth, sustainable consumption and production, life below water, climate action, life on land, sustainable cities and communities (UN 2015).  

The SDG 6 aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. The goal includes six targets that give a normative framework and direction for development efforts in water and sanitation (ERLMANN ET AL 2017). Water is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda as it is a key prerequisite for overall SDG achievement. As interventions in water and sanitation contributes to improvements towards other goals like health, poverty, food security, it makes sense using the water and sanitation system of a region as an entry point to tackling the 2030 Agenda. Likewise, working on other goals like education and governance can leverage interventions in water and sanitation.

The SDG indicators related to water, sanitation and hygiene are far more extensive. While the MDGs had only one target related to water and sanitation, the SDGs had one goal with different indicators (SDG 6) as well as indicators from other goals: SDG 3 targeting health related issues, SDG 11 aimed at promoting sustainable cities and communities, SDG 12 on the topic on responsible consumption and production and SDG 15 focusing on the protection of land and water ecosystems. This indicates the critical importance of water and its links to the different aspects of sustainable development. It also emphasises the interlinkages between the different goals and the improved impacts in the process of achieving them. Moreover, the (water-related) SDGs are targeting all world population, while the only water –related MDG target (7c) aimed to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (ERLMANN ET AL 2017). In spite of its increasing importance, hygiene was not explicitly included in the MDGs. Furthermore, having more detailed SDGs ensures better data collection and analysis to fulfil the SDGs. By this transition, more attention has been brought worldwide to the topic of water security. 

In order to measure the implementation progress of SDG 6, six outcome targets (6.1-6) were introduced and two MoI (means of implementation) targets; 6.a and 6.b. Each of the MoI targets applies to the outcome targets as well as the overall goal. The targets are as follows:

•           6.1 By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all,

•           6.2 By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations

•           6.3 By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally,

•           6.4 By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity,

•           6.5 By 2030, implement integrated water resources management (IWRM) at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate,

•           6.6 By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands rivers, aquifers and lakes.

•           6.a By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies. 

•           6.b Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg6).

Because definitions of improved sanitation facilities and drinking-water sources can vary widely within and among countries and regions, and because progress has to be measured at global level and across time, the Joint Monitoring Programme on Water and Sanitation (JMP) has defined by categories explaining what improved and what unimproved water sources and sanitation facilities on the different levels mean. These categorises also allow for enhanced monitoring of the targets (WHO & UNICEF 2017).

To categorise different sanitation and hygiene facilities as well as drinking-water sources is the only way to measure access to water and sanitation globally and over time. This is the categorisation introduced and used by the JMP. Source: WHO & UNICEF (2017)

In 2015, about 89 % of the world population (6.5 billion people) had access to improved sources of drinking water that needed less than 30 minutes per trip to be collected, these people have been categorised as having at least a basic drinking water service. The proportion of people with at least a basic drinking service has grown by an average of 0.49 % per year during the MDG period between 2000 and 2015 (UNICEF & WHO 2017).

Percentage of population with at least and limited drinking water services in the different world regions (UNICEF & WHO 2017)

Worldwide use of improved drinking-water sources in 2015. Source: UNICEF WHO (2017)

In 2015, improved sanitation facilities are used by only 68 % of the world population. Progress in sanitation has been lower than it has been for water, in the meantime basic sanitation is decreasing in 20 countries. The 2.3 billion people in the world who do not use improved sanitation facilities rely on open defecation or the use on unimproved facilities. Out of the 24 countries, where at least one person in five has limited sanitation services, 16 are located in sub-Saharan Africa (UNICEF & WHO 2017).

The global picture masks great disparities between regions: while virtually the entire population of the developed regions uses improved facilities, in developing regions only around half the population uses improved sanitation (UNICEF & WHO 2012).

Percentage of population with at least basic and limited sanitation services in the different world regions (UNICEF & WHO 2017)

Worldwide use of improved sanitation facilities in 2015, putting highlights on the urgency of sanitation improvements in Southern Asia, Sub-Saharan and Central Africa. Source: UNICEF & WHO (2017)

A lot of progress has happened between 2000 and 2015 in sanitation and sanitation practices. However, the progress is slow and needs to double in order to reach the target of eliminating open defecation in rural areas by 2030. This can be noted from the percentage of people practising open defecation between 2000-2015: 20% to 12%(UNICEF & WHO 2017).

While hygiene was not included in the MDGs, the SDGs had a target for it: ‘proportion of population with handwashing facilities with soap and water at home.

Proportion of population with basic and limited handwashing facilities in 70 countries with data in the different world regions (UNICEF & WHO 2017)

In 2015, 15% of sub-Saharan Africa had access to handwashing facilities, while 76% of Western Asia and northern Africa had access. Moreover, availability of handwashing facilities has always been higher in urban than in rural areas in each of these regions. In developed countries, there is no sufficient data to generate estimates (see map of hygiene coverage in the world in 2015).

Proportion of population with handwashing facilities including soap and water at home in 2015 (UNICEF & WHO 2017)

Although taboos topics such as defecation and menstrual hygiene have been broken and behavioural change has been mentioned and even examined in the water and sanitation sector generally and in relation to hygiene specifically, much remains to be done. Hygiene promotion should consider marginalised people and children as well as be kept on the agenda in times of instabilities and crisis (UNICEF 2016). Out of the 52 countries who reported WASH expenditures, only six countries with population of 204 million people have spent US$ 63 million (US$ 0.31 per capita) on hygiene promotion (GLAAS 2017).

Regarding to water and sanitation, the shift from the MDGs to SDGs has changed the perspective and importance on water and sanitation topics in the world. While MDGs where focusing on access of water and basic sanitation, the new SDG 6 and other targets related to water are far more comprehensive. This emphasises the need for better management, capacity and resources management as well as support (UN-WATER, N.D.). 

In 2015, 5.2 billion people had access to safely managed drinking water and 2.9 billion had access to safely managed sanitation service. The progress in access to water is faster than in access to sanitation, and the gap between rural and urban safe water supply is still substantial in some regions. As hygiene has only been included in SDGs and not in the MDGs, its progress is the slowest among the three (water, sanitation and hygiene) and sufficient data is even not available.

Continued efforts are needed to reduce urban-rural disparities and inequities associated with poverty; to dramatically increase coverage in countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania; to promote global monitoring of drinking water quality; to bring sanitation coverage ‘on track’. With half the population of developing regions without safely managed sanitation, the 2030 target appears to be hard to reach. But the SDGs are still attainable.