About this Discussion

According to the UN, nearly one-third of people globally lack access to safely managed drinking water services, and over half lack access to safely managed sanitation facilities. This lack of access can have potentially significant adverse impacts on people’s health, through water-related diseases, in addition to productivity and environmental impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the situation, and has demonstrated the critical importance of sanitation, hygiene and adequate access to clean water for preventing and containing diseases.  

While substantial progress has been made in increasing access to clean drinking water and sanitation, billions of people – mostly in rural areas – still lack these basic services. More needs to be done to improve the situation and achieve one of the Sustainable Development Goals, which calls for ensuring access to water and sanitation for all. The challenge lies in finding a way to use the world’s water more efficiently and make it available to all at a reasonable cost, while leaving sufficient quantities to sustain the environment. Green growth policies in the water sector can address issues of both quantity and quality by encouraging water-related innovation and investment in green infrastructure, and through integration with policies in other relevant sectors.

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Water and Sanitation

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International Trade Centre(ITC)

The Youth Ecopreneur Awards – celebrate with us young entrepreneurs working on innovative solutions for a better, greener planet who will pitch their green ventures as part of the final stage of the Awards. Hailing from 8 different countries, join us to support these ecopreneurs! Read More

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the water and sanitation sector in Asia Pacific?
Which areas should be prioritised for recovery?
What opportunities lie ahead post-pandemic?

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https://development.asia/insight/beyond-pandemic-building-back-better-water-sector

At the Tongogara Refugee Camp in a semi-arid part of Zimbabwe, where over 17,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique reside, water was extremely scarce.

However in 2018, the situation at the camp improved tremendously. There is no more waiting for hours. New high-capacity boles and an irrigation system were installed with funding from the African Development Bank. All the ten sections of the camp and surrounding communities now receive piped water because five boreholes were drilled, two in the camp and three in the neighbouring communities. The total pumping capacity of the boreholes is 28,000 liters per hour, powered by solar panels.

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https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/after-years-witnessing-fights-over-water-familys-life-transf...
United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP), Global Wastewater Initiative

Emerging pollutants is a term used by water quality professionals to describe contaminants that have been detected in water bodies. These may cause harm to human health and the ecological systems and are typically not governed under the current environmental laws, posing as a greater risk to our… Read More

The latest data, which is provided in seven SDG indicators reports recently published by the UN-Water Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 (IMI-SDG6), show us that 2 billion people worldwide still live without safely managed drinking water and 3.6 billion without safely managed sanitation. In addition, 2.3 billion people lack a basic handwashing facility with soap and water at home. Most wastewater is returned to nature untreated. One in five of the world’s river basins are experiencing rapid changes, such as flooding or drought with increased frequency and intensity, and 80% of wetland ecosystems are already lost.

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https://sdg.iisd.org/commentary/guest-articles/in-need-of-speed-data-can-accelerate-progress-towards...