There is sufficient fresh water on the planet for every single person to have access to clean, accessible water, so why are there millions of people who do not have this Human Right?
The answer to that question is that poor infrastructure or bad economics are responsible for the death of millions of people annually, most of them children, from diseases associated with inadequate clean water and hygienic sanitation.
Poor water quality, inadequate sanitation and water scarcity not only make people ill and sometimes cause their deaths due to water-related diseases, but it also negatively impacts food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. Add to this the devastating droughts that often affect some of the world’s poorest countries and you can add hunger and malnutrition to the causes of death.
It is predicted that at least 25% of individuals globally are likely to live in a country affected by water shortages by 2050. The Importance of SDG6 therefore, is that:
- 2.4 billion individuals still lack access to basic sanitation services such as toilets;
- 663 million people globally are still without access to improved drinking water sources;
- Around 1,000 children die EVERY DAY due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrhoeal diseases;
- Approximately 1.8 billion individuals across the globe use a source of drinking water that is faecally contaminated;
- Water scarcity currently affects in excess of 40% of the global population and is expected to rise;
- More than 1.7 billion individuals live in river basins where water use exceeds recharge;
- In excess of 80% of wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into rivers or the sea without the removal of any pollutants;
- Just about 70% of all water abstracted from lakes, rivers, and aquifers is used for irrigation.
SDG6 proposes, amongst other things, that universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all and access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and an end open defecation, must be achieved by 2030.
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