Out of the over 3,400 events that will be taking place all over Europe during the ESDW 2019, 90 events currently address SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, which seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Out of the over 3,400 events that will be taking place all over Europe during the ESDW 2019, 90 events currently address SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, which seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
SDG 6 aims to:
- By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate.
- By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes.
Progress being made towards achieving SDG 6
- Too many people still lack access to safely managed water supplies and sanitation facilities. Water scarcity, flooding and lack of proper wastewater management also hinder social and economic development. Increasing water efficiency and improving water management are critical to balancing the competing and growing water demands from various sectors and users.
- In 2015, 29 per cent of the global population lacked safely managed drinking water supplies, and 61 per cent were without safely managed sanitation services. In 2015, 892 million people continued to practise open defecation.
- In 2015, only 27 per cent of the population in LDCs had basic handwashing facilities.
- Preliminary estimates from household data of 79 mostly high- and high-middle-income countries (excluding much of Africa and Asia) suggest that 59 per cent of all domestic wastewater is safely treated.
- In 22 countries, mostly in the Northern Africa and Western Asia region and in the Central and Southern Asia region, the water stress level is above 70 per cent, indicating the strong probability of future water scarcity.
- In 2017–2018, 157 countries reported average implementation of integrated water resources management of 48 per cent.
- Based on data from 62 out of 153 countries sharing transboundary waters, the average percentage of national transboundary basins covered by an operational arrangement was only 59 per cent in 2017.
To find out more about the ESDW Events dealing with SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, please visit the Activities section on the ESDW website.
