The Water and Sanitation Challenge

This policy brief examines the global challenge of providing universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation, tracing the history of international efforts from the 1972 Stockholm Conference to the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights the gap between political targets and actual infrastructure needs, the disproportionate impact of water risk on poor and marginalized populations, and the critical intersection between water security, environmental health, and climate change.

• Significant portions of the global population lack basic water and sanitation services: 673 million people do not have a toilet at home, 698 million school-age children lack basic sanitation at school, and 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
• The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7C, which aimed to halve the proportion of people lacking safe water and basic sanitation by 2015, was reported as achieved by 2010, but the criteria were criticized for being too low. The 'improved water source' indicator ignored water quality, and the 'improved sanitation facility' indicator did not require safe wastewater treatment or disposal.
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 adopts a more holistic approach than the MDGs by covering the entire water cycle, including wastewater treatment, water-use efficiency, and the protection of water-related ecosystems. However, UN-Water indicates that progress on some targets must increase by approximately four times to meet the 2030 deadline.
• Environmental degradation and climate change exacerbate water insecurity. Deforestation increases sediment and turbidity in water sources, while 80% of the world's wetland ecosystems were lost as of 2021. Climate change increases water cycle variability and drives demand for water in energy and food production.
• Water risk is unevenly distributed, with the poor, minorities, and slum dwellers facing the highest risks. In low-income countries, women and girls spend approximately 40 billion hours annually collecting water, which hinders their ability to earn a livelihood or attend school.
• The document advocates for a human rights-based approach to water and sanitation to ensure services are affordable, accessible, and culturally acceptable. It suggests using disaggregated data to identify groups at risk and implementing creative financing, such as Cambodia's sanitation development impact bond or Kenya's credit rating scheme for utilities.
• Global water stress is widespread, with over 2 billion people living in countries experiencing high water stress and 4 billion people facing severe water scarcity for at least one month per year.

APA

Paul,, D. (2022). The Water and Sanitation Challenge. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/water-and-sanitation-challenge

Chicago

Paul,, Delia. The Water and Sanitation Challenge. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/water-and-sanitation-challenge.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Paul, |first1=Delia |title=The Water and Sanitation Challenge |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=22 March 2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/water-and-sanitation-challenge |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{paul2022water, author = {Paul,, Delia}, title = {{The Water and Sanitation Challenge}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/water-and-sanitation-challenge}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }