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SDG 6:

Clean Water and Sanitation

Today we’ll be examining the sixth sustainable development goal - clean water and sanitation for all.

[Note to lecturer:

The overall flow of this slide deck is as follows:

Why do we care? → overview of the key issues (e.g. for SDG 6: freshwater scarcity, what happens when people don’t have it, what happens when we take too much from the environment etc)

What is SDG 6? → Define.

How can we monitor progress on it? → Explain SDG targets, and note that there are indicators associated with each target that have specific metrics (which you can get more info on within the slide decks for each target).

What is our current progress? How is the world doing on this SDG? Are we on track to reach this goal by 2030?

Intersectionality of SDGs → How is SDG 6 related to the other SDGs?

Case study → Looking at a specific example of how the issues of clean water and sanitation impact Cape Town, South Africa.

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What’s So Important About Clean Water and Sanitation?

Clean water and sanitation are critical components to ensuring the wellbeing of the world’s population

The sustainable use of water resources is essential to ensuring ecosystem health and services, and is critical in all sectors - in particular agriculture - in order to support the global population

Water scarcity and lack of sanitation facilities contribute to inequalities in many areas, including gender inequality, and are also sources of conflict and even forced migration

Many of the problems we face related to clean water and sanitation will be exacerbated by climate change and growing global population in the coming decades

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How much freshwater is actually available to us?

Figure credits: Howard Perlman, USGS; Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Adam Nieman. Data Source: Igor Shiklomanov

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Where is Earth’s Water?

Source: Igor Shiklomanov’s chapter “World fresh water resources” in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World’s Fresh Water Resources. (Numbers are rounded). Figure taken from USGS, “Where is Earth’s Water?”

This is a somewhat classic figure in the world of hydrology, published initially in 1993. The whole column on the left represents that larger blue sphere we saw on the previous slide - the total volume of water on earth. Of this, column, only that top blue slice (2.5%) is freshwater. The middle column expands this freshwater: 68.7% of which is “trapped” in glaciers and icecaps, and relatively inaccessible for use. The next largest portion of this middle column is groundwater, which accounts for roughly 30.1% of the freshwater on earth. The surface/other freshwater - including all the lakes, rivers, and swamps - accounts for only 1.2% of the freshwater on earth! 1.2% of 2.5% is only 0.03%. That means that surface water and any other source of freshwater that isn’t in glaciers, icecaps, or groundwater, accounts for only 0.03% of all the water on Earth. As you’ll see in the rest of this lecture and in the additional slides on the different targets associated with SDG 6, access to clean freshwater is essential for human health, environmental wellbeing, and economic prosperity. This freshwater is not only scarce and essential, but it also is being threatened by over-use, contamination, pollution, rising sea levels, and many other factors that are largely human-induced. (https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects)

(For more information, consider reviewing: https://www.unicef.org/media/95241/file/water-security-for-all.pdf)

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What is SDG 6?

“Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”

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How Does UN Approach SDGs?

A few definitions:

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): “a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world”

Targets:

Outcome Targets: a specific circumstance to achieve

These are the targets with numbers, e.g. 6.1 or 6.2

Means of Implementation Targets: the interdependent mix of resources, processes, and steps necessary to achieve the SDG.

These are the targets with letters, e.g. 6.a or 6.b

Indicators: metrics with which to measure each of the targets; all indicators have specific metadata used be the UN to track progress (231 unique indicators in total)

Ind.

Target

SDG

Before we jump into SDG 6, here are a few useful definitions to keep in mind.

SDGs: As explained by the UN, “The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. The 17 SDGs are integrated—that is, they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.” (https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html)

(For more information, see: https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/background /)

TARGETS:

Each sustainable development goal has a series of targets associated with it, that define different aspects of the goal in more clarity and specificity. All of the sustainable development goals, except number 17, have two types of targets: first, outcome targets, which represent a specific circumstance to achieve, such as 6.1: safe and affordable drinking water. The second type of target is called a “Means of Implementation” target, which essentially details how the sustainable development goal will be achieved, with an emphasis on global as well as local partnerships and effort (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list). Sustainable development goal number 17, “'Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development” is “wholly about how the SDGs will be achieved,” (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list).

INDICATORS:

For each of these targets, there’s at least one indicator defined, which serves as a metric to measure progress towards achieving the related target, and cumulatively - achieving the sustainable development goal. In total, there are 231 unique indicators. (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list).

The relationship between the sustainable development goals, targets, and indicators is loosely conveyed in the figure on this slide.

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How Can We Achieve SDG 6?

Targets 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.a, 6.b

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Monitoring Progress: SDG 6 Targets

Target 6.1: Safe and Affordable Drinking Water

Target 6.2: End Open Defecation and Provide Access To Sanitation and Hygiene

Target 6.3: Improve Water Quality, Wastewater Treatment and Safe Refuse

Target 6.4: Increase Water-Use Efficiency and Ensure Freshwater Supplies

Target 6.5: Implement Integrated Water Resources Management

Target 6.6: Protect and Restore Water-Related Ecosystems

Target 6.A: Expand Water and Sanitation Support to Developing Countries

Target 6.B: Support Local Engagement in Water and Sanitation Management

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Indicator 6.4.2 Metric: Freshwater withdrawals as a share of internal resources

Note: “Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals from agriculture, industry and municipal/domestic uses. Withdrawals can exceed 100% of total renewable resources where extraction from non-renewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable.” Data shown for 2014.

Source: Data from FAO; Figure from Our World in Data

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How is the World Doing on SDG 6?

Are We on Track for 2030?

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Current Global Status on SDG 6

Source: Sustainable Development Report 2020

Overall, based on available data from Sachs et al. (2020)*, the “Sustainable Development Report 2020” index and dashboard displays global progress on each of the sustainable development goals. The figure here shows the world’s overall progress on SDG 6; as you can see, very few countries have achieved SDG 6 (Finland, Czech Republic, and Croatia), and the most significant challenges remain in Africa, southeastern Asia, and a handful of other countries. Though this may seem a little discouraging, we still have several years before 2030 to continue the progress we’ve made and accelerate it further through innovation and increased collaboration and advancements. Let’s look at what the trends project for 2030 *next slide*

*Sachs et al. (2020): The Sustainable Development Goals and Covid-19. Sustainable Development Report 2020. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/map/goals/SDG6)

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Are We on Track for 2030?

Source: Sustainable Development Report 2020

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“1 in 3

people live without sanitation.

This is causing unnecessary disease and death. Although huge strides have been made with access to clean drinking water, lack of sanitation is undermining these advances. If we provide affordable equipment and education in hygiene practices, we can stop this senseless suffering and loss of life.”

Source: The Global Goals (globalgoals.org)

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1 in 4

of the world’s children under 18 – some 600 million in all – will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.”

Source: UNICEF, 2017

“It is estimated that by 2040,

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How Does SDG 6 Relate to Other SDGs?

“For children, water is life: without it they cannot survive. Safe drinking water is essential for their health and survival, and unsafe water can make them sick or even kill them.

But a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) affects more than just children’s health. It affects their physical development, exacerbating malnutrition and stunting. It affects their education, disrupting learning and sometimes forcing them to skip school to walk long

distances to collect water. Water scarcity reduces livelihood opportunities for their families and communities, leading to migration, conflict and even child labour.”

-Source: UNICEF, 2021

As described by UNICEF: “For children, water is life: without it they cannot survive. Safe drinking water is essential for their health and survival, and unsafe water can make them sick or even kill them.

But a lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) affects more than just children’s health. It affects their physical development, exacerbating malnutrition and stunting. It affects their education, disrupting learning and sometimes forcing them to skip school to walk long

distances to collect water. Water scarcity reduces livelihood opportunities for their families and communities, leading to migration, conflict and even child labour.”

Just touching on some of the high level areas of interconnectedness demonstrated in this quote: access to clean water and sanitation closely relates to other sustainable development goals, including SDG 2 (zero hunger), SDG 3 (good-health and well-being), SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions) just to highlight a few. Connections can be drawn from SDG 6 to all of the 17 SDGs.

(https://www.unicef.org/media/95241/file/water-security-for-all.pdf )

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How Does SDG 6 Relate to Other SDGs?

Source: The Sustainable Development Goals Alliance (SDGA), University of Calgary

Beyond the several listed on the previous slide, connections can be made between SDG 6 and every other SDG. A few additional examples include the impact of climate change (SDG 13) on the water cycle that will impact the obstacles certain countries must overcome in order to achieve SDG 6 - including rising sea levels with associated saltwater intrusion, as well as increased flooding and droughts which may alter how much water is available (and in particular - when and where this water is available). Additionally, the quality and quantity of water available for the environment (SDG 6) greatly impacts both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem health, which thus impacts achieving SDG 15 (life on land), and SDG 14 (life below water).

(Figure source: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ucalgary.ca/sustainability/get-involved/get-involved/student-opportunities/sustainable-development-goals&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1618849798083000&usg=AOvVaw3PQ2XkyhHY7a2EM0u7uEvx)

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Case Study - “Day Zero” Water Crisis in Cape Town, South Africa

Source: National Geographic on Youtube

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Case Study - “Day Zero” Water Crisis in Cape Town, South Africa

Source: National Geographic on Youtube

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Case Study - “Day Zero” Water Crisis in Cape Town, South Africa

Source: Dos Santos et al., 2017

This graphical illustration published by Dos Santos et al in 2017 highlights some of the challenges faced by Cape Town in determining the best course of action in terms of water governance - essentially, how do you divide such limited water resources among various sectors and social groups?

Dos Santos et al. (2017) summarize some of the factors and ramifications of this crisis: “Population growth, changing lifestyles, increasing pollution and accelerating urbanization will continue to widen the gap between the demand for water and available supply especially in urban areas, and disproportionately affect informal settlements, where the majority of [Sub-Saharan Africa]’s urban population resides.”

The widening of this gap between water demand and water availability is further exacerbated by several other factors. As noted by Dos Santos et al. (2017): “Distribution and allocation of water will be affected by climate-induced water stresses, poor institutions, ineffective governance, and weak political will to address scarcity and mediate uncertainties in future supply.”

(Dos Santos et al., 2017 : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969717315759)

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Class Activity

Source: United Nations

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Case Study - “Day Zero” Water Crisis in Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town Water Crisis

Source: United Nations

The water crisis in South Africa is tied to many other sustainable development goals beyond SDG 6, clean water and sanitation.

Just to cover a few examples:

A key connection that will be made several times over the rest of this module, is that without clean water and sanitation, it is impossible to achieve SDG 3: good health and wellbeing.

Additionally, as noted in the previous slides and videos, the prolonged drought that caused this water crisis has been linked to anthropogenic climate change (SDG 13, climate action). Cape Town’s population has increased at a rate that exceeds the capacity of the surrounding natural environment to provide critical resources, at least in relation to the way water is currently being managed, showing that there is a large amount of work to be done in terms of innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9) to make the city sustainably (SDG 11).

The lack of water enhances the inequalities that already exist in the city (SDG 10, reduced inequalities; and SDG 1, no poverty), and in particular - disproportionately impacts those living in informal settlements.

The hydropower dam that serves to both generate hydroelectric power for the city (SDG 7, affordable and clean energy) as well as provide a more consistent source of water from the accompanying reservoir - and during times of prolonged drought, both of these capabilities are tremendously reduced.

Water is key to not only the health and wellbeing of the population, but also to the success of the economy - which has local and global implications (SDG 8). In particular, the agricultural and tourism sectors were dramatically impacted during this time.

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Sources

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/all-earths-water-a-single-sphere
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/where-earths-water?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
https://www.unicef.org/media/95241/file/water-security-for-all.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCKsU4bPFOQ
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/background/
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/indicators-list
https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress
https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/map/goals/SDG6
https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/map/goals/SDG6/trends
https://www.globalgoals.org/6-clean-water-and-sanitation
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nearly-600-million-children-will-live-areas-extremely-limited-water-resources-2040
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.ucalgary.ca/sustainability/get-involved/get-involved/student-opportunities/sustainable-development-goals&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1618849798083000&usg=AOvVaw3PQ2XkyhHY7a2EM0u7uEvx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxZAqswJfL4
https://www.unwater.org/publications/highlights-sdg-6-synthesis-report-2018-on-water-and-sanitation-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM45opQZKi0
Stéphanie dos Santos, E. Adams, G. Neville, Y. Wada, A. de Sherbinin, et al. (2017). Urban growth and water access in sub-Saharan Africa: Progress, challenges, and emerging research directions. Science of the Total Environment 607-608 :497 - 508. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.157