Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

> Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

SDG6 Clean Water and Sanitation - wikimedia

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) has eight targets and 11 indicators that will be used to monitor progress toward the targets. Most are to be achieved by the year 2030. One is targeted for 2020 - wikipedia

The first three targets relate to drinking water supply and sanitation. Worldwide, 6 out of 10 people lack safely managed sanitation services, and 3 out of 10 lack safely managed water services. Safe drinking water and hygienic toilets protect people from disease and enable societies to be more productive economically.

Example of sanitation for all: School toilet (IPH school and college, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh) - wikimedia.org

Attending school and work without disruption is critical to successful education and successful employment. Therefore, toilets in schools and work places are specifically mentioned as a target to measure. "Equitable sanitation" calls for addressing the specific needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations, such as the elderly or people with disabilities. Water sources are better preserved if open defecation is ended and sustainable sanitation systems are implemented.

Ending open defecation will require provision of toilets and sanitation for 2.6 billion people as well as Behavior change (public health) of the users. This will require cooperation between governments, civil society, and the private sector.

Unimproved sanitation example: pit latrine without slab in Lusaka, Zambia - wikimedia.org

The main indicator for the sanitation target is the "Proportion of population using safely managed sanitation services, including a hand-washing facility with soap and water".

However, as of 2017, two-thirds of countries lacked baseline estimates for SDG indicators on hand washing, safely managed drinking water, and sanitation services. From those that were available, the Joint Monitoring Programme (Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation) found that 4.5 billion people currently do not have Improved sanitation.

If we are 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.

The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) has made it its mission to achieve SDG6. SuSanA's position is that 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.