SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation

Protecting water reserves

Gathering water from wells or contaminated streams a considerable distance away and defecating outdoors are still the norm for many people. About 2.2 billion people worldwide still do not have access to safe drinking water.

That said, there have already been clear signs of progress towards achieving this UN Sustainable Development Goal: UNICEF and WHO figures indicate that, between 2015 and 2022, the percentage of the world’s population with access to a safe water supply increased from 69% to 73%. Further progress is expected; however, at the current rate of progress, some 1.6 billion people are still expected to be without safe drinking water supplies in 2030. To achieve the 2030 Agenda target for drinking water, the pace of progress would have to increase sixfold.

In SDG 6, the UN has undertaken to “ensure access to water and sanitation for all”. This is because there is still also a lack of adequate sanitation: access to safe sanitation grew from 49% to 57% in the aforementioned time period (2015 - 2022), and a further 18% of the world’s population has access to basic sanitation. About 3.5 billion people have to make do without safe sanitation, including a good 420 million people who have to defecate outdoors. This not only increases the risk of infectious diseases; it also leads to water resources becoming polluted and means an increased risk of sexual violence, especially for girls and women.

In addition, increasing water scarcity in large parts of the world is a problem that is exacerbated by climate change and conflicts. About 25 countries, in which around a quarter of the world's population lives, are among the so-called "water-stressed countries" – countries with (in some cases considerable) water shortages. The fight for a fair distribution of water resources can also lead to social unrest and riots in these regions.

For many years, KfW has been helping to ensure that people in developing countries and emerging economies have a safe supply of drinking water and access to good, safe sanitation. This includes funding potabilization and drinking water distribution, programmes to reduce water loss and improve water use efficiency, measures to ensure safe sanitation and the treatment of sewage, integrated water resource management projects, or funding sector reform programmes.

Clean drinking water is a basic requirement for sustainable development and healthy human existence. However, the water available often comes from sources that are contaminated with germs and bacteria and therefore promote diseases such as cholera. If there is no water supply to villages in some, often rural, areas, it is usually the women and girls who have to walk to wells, rivers or water holes to provide for their families, sometimes over long distances. This means that they have neither the time nor the energy to attend school or participate in economic activities.

While the available freshwater resources are limited, demand for water will continue to increase in the future – according to estimates by one percent annually. Population growth, increased demand for water from irrigation farming, climate change, violent conflicts and migration may lead to further water crises. Against this background, providing more and more people with clean drinking water presents a major challenge. KfW is supporting its partners to protect water as a resource, reduce water waste in the long term and (re)use treated waste water where it is reasonable to do so.

In Albania, for example, KfW is promoting an integrated approach on behalf of the BMZ to rehabilitate, modernise and build new municipal infrastructure. This includes drinking water supply and waste water removal systems in six medium-sized towns, some of which are located in regions attractive to tourists, contributing to Albania's social, economic and tourism development. KfW has also financed the construction and modernisation of water treatment plants in northern Serbia on behalf of the BMZ, thus improving the drinking water supply in several towns. The supply of clean water is also one of the most important prerequisites for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes. KfW is therefore supporting the comprehensive rehabilitation of the water infrastructure in provinces liberated from IS in Iraq, among other things.

A lack of access to clean sanitation creates risks for hygiene and health. However, almost half of humanity does not have such “safe access”. They use communal toilets or latrines that are often in bad condition and are not connected to the sewerage system. The regular removal of faeces is also not guaranteed in many cases. If sewage is not treated adequately, it pollutes rivers and lakes, which in turn makes it harder to access clean drinking water. This is why KfW is campaigning for safe sanitation and for sewage to be collected, drained and treated in partner countries, e.g. in Bosnia and Herzegovina or Bolivia.

In Kenya, growing peri-urban areas of the capital Nairobi (“satellite towns”) are facing the major challenge of providing a sufficient level of public infrastructure and services, especially in relation to water supply and sanitation. KfW is helping these areas to provide the people in the satellite towns with adequate access that is also socially and economically viable. To enable this, a participative bottom-up approach has been used, the first of its kind in Kenya. The local water utilities are themselves proposing investments focusing on poorer population groups in the target areas.

At present, around 2.4 billion people live in countries where water is scarce and there are long-term problems with demand for water exceeding the amounts that are available. Population growth, urbanisation and climate change are likely to further exacerbate the situation in many countries. Extreme weather events, which will most likely occur more often going forward due to climate change, may cause enormous damage due to flooding. Droughts, falling water tables and soil salinity also limit the availability of water as a resource. KfW therefore promotes approaches such as Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which comprises various interlinked measures to make water available, reduce water losses, increase storage capacities and manage water, soil and coasts sustainably, for example in Tunisia.

Another way to make more water available and increase people’s resilience to the consequences of climate change is through rain water management. KfW is responding to increasing interest from partners in this topic, which is also highly relevant in the context of climate change adaptation. For a long time now, KfW has been supporting measures to protect poor districts and infrastructure in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, against landslides and flooding. KfW has also been involved in the water sector in Uganda on behalf of the BMZ for many years, for example to provide refugees and host communities in the north of the country with improved water and sanitation services in the long term, to increase their climate resilience and to protect already scarce water resources.

The water sector has long been a high priority within KfW Development Bank and represents one of the largest sectors. In 2024, around EUR 957 million were committed to projects that contribute to the achievement of SDG 6. KfW is thus reaffirming its commitment to helping people in developing countries and emerging economies to improve their drinking water and sanitation and to counter the effects of climate change through the management of water resources.

„We still take water for granted“

Interview with Henk Ovink about the global water crisis and why we don’t value this basic element of life.

Running water or an eight-hour walk?

It takes 13-year-old Aysha from Ethiopia eight hours every day to fetch water for her family from the distant river. Eight hours in which she could be going to school or playing with other children.

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