Sustainable Development Goal 6

Families collecting water from a water well in Niger

The United Nations (UN) has determined that access to clean water and sanitation facilities is a basic human right.[8] However few countries have included a human right to water in enforceable legislation. Over 2 billion people in the world lack access to water that is free of health risks.[9] By 2017, eighty countries provided access to clean water for more than 99% of their population.[10] From 2000 to 2017, the global population that lacked access to clean water decreased from nearly 20% to roughly 10%.[9]

Ending open defecation will require the provision of toilets and sanitation for 2.6 billion people as well as behavior change of the population.[11] To meet SDG targets for sanitation by 2030, nearly one-third of countries will need to accelerate progress to end open defecation, including Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan.[12] This will require cooperation between governments, civil society and the private sector.[13]

Safe drinking water and hygienic toilets protect people from disease and enable societies to be more productive economically. Attending school and work without disruption supports education and employment. Therefore, toilets at school and the workplace are included in the second target ("achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all"). Equitable sanitation and hygiene solutions address the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations, such as the elderly or people with disabilities.

In June 2019, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization released their 138-page report "Progress on household drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene 2000-2017: special focus on inequalities."[9] The report said that in 2017, 5.3 billion people—representing 71% of the population of the world—used a "safely managed drinking-water service—one that is "located on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination".[9] By 2017, 6.8 billion people—representing 90% of the world's population—used "at least a basic service", which included "an improved drinking-water source within a round trip of 30 minutes to collect water".[9] However, in 2017, there were still 785 million people who lacked "even a basic drinking-water service, including 144 million people who [were] dependent on surface water."[9] The report said that approximately 2 billion people used a "drinking water source contaminated with feces".[9] The report warned that diseases, including "diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio" are transmitted by contaminated water, which cause about 485, 000 diarrhoeal deaths each year.[9] It cautioned that 50% of the global population will be "living in water-stressed areas" by 2025.[9] As of 2017, 22% of health care facilities in the least developed countries had no water service, with similar numbers lacking sanitation and waste management services.[9]

A review of SDG progress by the UN in 2020 found that "increasing donor commitments to the water sector will remain crucial to make progress towards Goal 6".[5] This is why the UN has put in place a unifying initiative that improves support to countries known as SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework.[14]

World map for Indicator 6.1.1 in 2015: Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services[15]

World map for Indicator 6.2.1a in 2015: Share of population using safely managed sanitation facilities[15]

World map for Indicator 6.2.1b in 2017: "Share of the population with basic handwashing facilities on premises"[15]

SDG 6 has eight targets. Six of them are to be achieved by the year 2030, one by the year 2020, and one has no target year.[16] Each of the targets also has one or two indicators which will be used to measure progress. In total there are 11 indicators to monitor progress for SDG6.[17] The main data sources for the SDG 6 targets and indicators come from the Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 coordinated by UN-Water.[18] Each government must decide how to incorporate them into national planning processes, policies and strategies based on national realities, capacities, levels of development and priorities.[18]

The six "outcome-oriented targets" include: Safe and affordable drinking water; end open defecation and provide access to sanitation, and hygiene, improve water quality, wastewater treatment and safe reuse, increase water-use efficiency and ensure freshwater supplies, implement IWRM, protect and restore water-related ecosystems. The two "means of achieving" targets are to expand water and sanitation support to developing countries, and to support local engagement in water and sanitation management.[3]

The first three targets relate to drinking water supply, sanitation services, and wastewater treatment and reuse.[16]

An SDG 6 Baseline Report in 2018 found that less than 50 percent of countries have comparable baseline estimates for most SDG 6 global indicators.[18]^: 31 One reason is that many SDG 6 global indicators are new, and most have only limited time series, making it difficult to determine rates of progress.[18]^: 31

Target 6.2: End open defecation and provide access to sanitation and hygiene

The full title of Target 6.2 is: "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."[2]

This target has one indicator: Indicator 6.2.1 is the "Proportion of population using (a) safely managed sanitation services and (b) a hand-washing facility with soap and water".[21]

The definition of "safely managed sanitation" service is: "Use of improved facilities that are not shared with other households and where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite."[11]^: 8 Improved sanitation facilities are those designed to hygienically separate excreta from human contact.[11]^: 6

Targets 6.1 and 6.2 are usually reported on together because they are both part of the WASH sector and have the same custodian agency, the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP).[11]

The statistic in the 2017 baseline estimate by the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) is that 4.5 billion people currently do not have safely managed sanitation.[11]

Unimproved sanitation example: pit latrine without slab in Lusaka, Zambia

Globally, the proportion of the population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 28 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2017. Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and East and Southeast Asia recorded the largest increase. In total, there are still 701 million people around the world who still had to practice open defecation in 2017.[19] This number had reduced in 2020 to 673 million persons who practised open defecation.[5]

As of 2017, two-thirds of countries lacked baseline estimates for SDG indicators on hand washing, safely managed drinking water, and sanitation services.[22]

In 2017, about 60 percent of people worldwide have basic hand-washing facilities with soap and water at home. However, within the least developed countries, only 38 percent had such facilities, translating to about 3 billion people still without basic handwashing facilities at home.[19]

In 2020, a report by the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development found that "Billions of people throughout the world still lack access to safely managed water and sanitation services and basic handwashing facilities at home, which are critical to preventing the spread of COVID-19".[5] However, this same pandemic has most likely caused a reduction in access to safely managed sanitation.[23]

Target 6.3: Improve water quality, wastewater treatment, and safe reuse

Target 6.3 is formulated as "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".[2] This is also a sanitation-related target, as wastewater treatment is part of sanitation.

The target has two indicators:[21]

• Indicator 6.3.1: Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewater flows safely treated
• Indicator 6.3.2: Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality

The current status for Indicator 6.3.2 is that: "Preliminary estimates from 79 mostly high- and higher-middle income countries in 2019 suggest that, in about one quarter of the countries, less than half of all household wastewater flows were treated safely."[5]

Preserving natural sources of water is very important to achieve universal access to safe and affordable drinking water.

A man selling drinking water

High-level progress reports for all the SDGs are published in the form of reports by the United Nations Secretary General. The most recent one is from April 2020.[5] The report before that was from May 2019.[25]

Additionally, updates and progress can also be found on the SDG website which is managed by the United Nations.[4]

Monitoring national-level progress of SDG 6 through internationally agreed indicators has been the focus of intense scrutiny and considerable resourcing by international organizations and national governments. Indicators for SDG 6 are monitored and reported on at an international level by United Nations (UN) custodian agencies under the UN-Water managed Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 (IMI), although national data and results will form the basis of all monitoring and reporting.[37]

In many cases, surrogate indicators will have to be used to measure progress (or the lack of it). Thus, implementation of the SDGs implies continuous monitoring and periodic evaluation to check whether the direction and pace of development are right.[38] Robust indicators will do two things: enable the SDG targets to act as a management tool to help countries and the global community create evidence-based implementation strategies and allocate resources accordingly; and act as a report card to measure SDG progress.[37]

Sustainable Development Goals

The SDGs are highly interdependent. Therefore, the provision of clean water and sanitation for all is a precursor to achieving many of the other SDGs.[39] WASH experts have stated that without progress on Goal 6, the other goals and targets cannot be achieved.[40][41]

For example, sanitation improvements can lead to more jobs (SDG 8) which would also lead to economic growth.[42] SDG 6 progress improves health (SDG 3) and social justice (SDG 16).[43] Recovering the resources embedded in excreta and wastewater (like nutrients, water, and energy) contributes to achieving SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production) and SDG 2 (end hunger). Ensuring adequate sanitation and wastewater management along the entire value chain in cities contributes to SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 1 (no poverty).[42]

Sanitation systems with a resource recovery and reuse focus are getting increased attention.[44] They can contribute to achieving at least fourteen of the SDGs, especially in an urban context.[42]

The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) has made it its mission to help achieve Targets 6.2 and 6.3.[45][46] Global organizations such as Oxfam, UNICEF, WaterAid and many small NGOs as well as universities, research centers, private enterprises, government-owned entities etc. are all part of SuSanA and are dedicated to achieving SDG 6.[47]

The United Nations has listed Sustainable Development (SDG) Goal 6 as the aim to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all people (United Nations, 2022). I am specifically going to discuss this goal in a Canadian context as this information has not been acknowledged in Wikipedia’s literature on this topic. The the aim of the Canadian goal has been described as “Canadians have access to drinking water and use it in a sustainable manner” (Statistics Canada, 2021), below are the current indicators of what needs to be achieved to reach this goal:

“Indicator 6.1.1 states:

Target

All of the long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserve are to be resolved

Indicator

Number of long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves

6.2.1

Target

No specific target

Indicator

Percentage of municipalities across Canada with sustained drinking water advisories

6.3.1

Target

No specific target

Indicator

Water use growth rate

6.4.1

Target

No specific target

Indicator

Water quality in Canadian rivers” (Statistics Canada, 2021).

I will be explicitly writing about Indicator 6.1.1, given the lack of meaningful action that has been taken towards the ongoing issues of water quality and adequate sanitation measures on Indigenous reserves in Canada. This part of the Canadian SDG has yet to be achieved, and the progress towards meeting this goal has been minimal thus far.  It has been reported that in 2021 almost half of the drinking water advisories on Indigenous reservations were lifted, yet 7 more were added during the same time span (Statistics Canada, 2022 ). In 2022, Indigenous Services Canada stated that there are at least 29 communities in Canada with boil water advisories in effect (Richardson, 2022). This is significant to the discussion around SDGs in Canada, because ultimately the overall goal of clean water and sanitation access for all Canadians as long as there are disparities in Indigenous communities around water quality and sanitation measures.

The definition of water security has expanded in recent literature to encompass:

water quality, human health, water-related hazards, sustainable development, water supply, and ecological concerns…, involves a balance between the protection of resources and the enhancement of livelihoods, Determinants of water security include water availability for ecosystem services as well as acceptable quality and quantity for human uses. Water security is presented in the literature as meeting short and long-term needs to enable access to sufficient water quality, at a fair price, for human health, safety, welfare, and productive capacity…linked to the political, social, and economic power of people in society… (Indigenous perspectives on water security, pg. 1).

Although Canada, like many high-income countries, have made advancements in providing accessible safe water and sanitation measures, significant gaps in terms of access and quality of these necessities persist in “...historically marginalized, rural, informal, and Indigenous communities” (Mattos et. al, 2021, pg. 1). Such disparities are prevalent in Indigenous communities in Canada, even though the country’s government has signed on to the UN’s sustainable development goals (Mattos et. al, 2021, pg. 2). Notably, a “… lack of community water distribution systems, inadequate technology, lack of federal funding, and land use activities that affect source water quality” all contribute to one in five Indigenous communities on reservations being under a boil water advisory at a time (Awume et. al, 2020,, pg. 1-2). These social inequities have resulted in disproportionate rankings of quality of life between Indigenous communities and the rest of Canada, whereby Canada has been one of the “...top placement in the UN Human Development Index, yet Canadian Indigenous peoples rank 78th on the same scale” (Asiniwasis, 2021, pg 188).

Disparities in Indigenous Communities Resulting in Minimal Progress

It is crucial to understand the historical and ongoing water crisis among Indigenous communities in Canada, along with how and why SDG Goal 6 has had minimal progress in these communities since Canada has signed onto the goal of achieving clean water and sanitation for all Canadians.

Numerous barriers and challenges from multiple levels of government have contributed to the existing disparities between Indigenous communities and the rest of Canada. Some specific issues cited in recent literature “...include  lack of local capacity, inadequate funding, justice and discrimination issues, cultural obstacles, and specific technical challenges…[and] environmental injustice and racial discrimination” (Mattos et. al, 2021, pg. 4, 6), along with “ … inequitable resource distribution, sociopolitical and governance challenges…” (Arsenault et. al, 2018, pg. 2). Ultimately, these obstacles can all be linked to the historical and ongoing impacts from colonialism in Canada, which have expropriated land ownership and decision making abilities towards issues of water, sanitation, and health from the Indigenous communities who are directly impacted from these inequities (Mattos et. al, 2021, pg. 6). A significant issue in government jurisdiction lies within the fact that the Canadian government is “highly fragmented”, meaning that “… federal or provincial governance bodies have delegated water management responsibility to communities…” (Arsenault et. al, 2018, pg. 2); Specifically, the responsibility around water governance in Indigenous communities has been divided among “...Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Health Canada, Environment Canada and First Nations community leadership…” and has caused severe difficulties around accountability measures (Arsenault et. al, 2018, pg. 5). Given that the Canadian 2030 Agenda states that “All federal departments and agencies are responsible for integrating the 2030 Agenda into their work. They are also responsible for contributing to advancing the SDGs within their areas of responsibility” (Government of Canada, 2021, pg. 3). Evidently, such issues of accountability for action will hinder the level of progress and development that can be made towards achieving water quality and sanitation measures on Indigenous reservations.

Recommendations to Achieving SDG 6 in Canada

In the emerging literature on Indigenous water quality, sanitation, and overall health, several recommendations to current measures toward improving the quality and access to these needs have been discussed, and should be taken into account and applied in all future action towards achieving SDG 6 in Canada. First and foremost, it is absolutely necessary that treaties made between all Indigenous communities in Canada and the Canadian government are recognized and fulfilled in their entirety (Mattos et. al, 2021, pg. 7). This will ensure that all discriminatory actions that have prevented social change from occurring in regards to water security and sanitation are abolished and transformative change to these conditions can be pursued (Mattos et. al, 2021, pg. 6). This means that “racist, nationalist, and colonial policies must be terminated and replaced with equitable legislation and regulations to protect and improve access for historically marginalized communities” (Mattos et. al, 2021,  pg. 6). It is essential that the definition of water security is expanded in Western science and education to include Indigenous knowledge in water management and planning as Indigenous understanding of “...water security encapsulates a meaning that transcends the material definition offered by conventional, western science” (Awume et. al, 2021, pg. 10); “An “Indigenous perspective” introduces human values and relationships to water that includes respect for water and ethical decisions about water” (Awume et. al, 2021, pg. 7).

In order to do so, stakeholders concerned with water access and sanitation must work towards building reciprocal relationships between government bodies and Indigenous communities that respects traditional land ownership and Indigenous governance over their own environmental practices and health (Duignan et. al, 2022, pg. 7-8). Practical means of reciprocity in future research and development around water security includes developing “…exposure models and risk management strategies that are more reflective of the population’s social and cultural practices” (Daley et. al, 2022, pg. 2). Given that women hold a vital role in the leadership of Indigenous communities, women need to be at the forefront of all decision making and research processes for achieving water security (Duignan et. al, 2022, pg. 8). This goal will be best fulfilled by supporting Indigenous communities to achieve self determination, which can be achieved by assisting in the development of community based leadership programs and focusing on opportunities that give Indigenous communities control over their land, health, communities, and the environment (Mattos et. al, 2021 pg. 7).

References:

Arsenault, R., Diver, S., McGregor, D., Witham, A., & Bourassa, C. (2018). Shifting the framework of Canadian water governance through Indigenous research methods: Acknowledging the past with an eye on the future. Water, 10(1), 1-18. doi:10.3390/w10010049

Asiniwasis, R. N., Heck, E., Amir Ali, A., Ogunyemi, B., & Hardin, J. (2021). Atopic dermatitis and skin infections are a poorly documented crisis in Canada's Indigenous pediatric population: It's time to start the conversation. Pediatric Dermatology, 38(S2), 188-189. doi:10.1111/pde.14759

Awume, O., Patrick, R., & Baijius, W. (2020). Indigenous perspectives on water security in Saskatchewan, Canada. Water, 12(3), 1-14. doi:10.3390/w12030810

Daley, K., Jamieson, R., Rainham, D., Hansen, L. T., & Harper, S. L. (2022). Microbial risk assessment and mitigation options for wastewater treatment in Arctic Canada. Microbial Risk Analysis, 20, 1-14. doi:10.1016/j.mran.2021.100186

Duignan, S., Moffat, T., & Martin-Hill, D. (2022). Be like the running water: Assessing gendered and age-based water insecurity experiences with Six Nations First Nation. Social Science & Medicine, 298, 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114864

Government of Canada. (2021). Canada’s Federal Implementation Plan for the 2030 Agenda. Retrieved from Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada website: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/esdc-edsc/documents/programs/agenda-2030/Implementation-Plan_layout_EN_Web.pdf

Mattos, K. J., Mulhern, R., Naughton, C. C., Anthonj, C., Brown, J., Brocklehurst, C., … Smith, A. (2021). Reaching those left behind: Knowledge gaps, challenges, and approaches to achieving SDG 6 in high-income countries. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 11(5), 849-858. doi:10.2166/washdev.2021.057

Richardson, L. (2022, March 7). Process to apply for First Nations drinking water compensation now open. Retrieved from https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/process-to-apply-for-first-nations-drinking-water-compensation-now-open/

Statistics Canada. (2021, June 22). The Canadian indicator framework for the sustainable development goals. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-26-0004/112600042021001-eng.htm

Statistics Canada. (2022, September 28). Sustainable development goals: Goal 6, clean water and sanitation. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-637-x/2022001/article/00006-eng.htm

United Nations. (2022). Goal 6 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6

• Human right to water and sanitation
• Water security

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• Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform
• Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub
• UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform – SDG 6
• “Global Goals” Campaign - SDG 6
• SDG-Track.org - SDG 6