Ensure equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene for all

Equitable access to affordable, clean water, as well as safe sanitation and hygiene services, is essential

Access to clean water, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene is foundational to human health, dignity and sustainable development. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) encompasses drinking water services, sanitation services and hygiene practices that together protect people from water‑related disease and environmental contamination. Expanding access to clean water and WASH services remains a critical global challenge.

Each WASH component has a distinct meaning. Safe drinking water is water that poses no significant risk to health over a lifetime and is reliably available when needed. Sanitation refers to facilities and services for the safe disposal of human waste — for example, household flush toilets connected to functional septic tanks or fully contained pit latrines. Hygiene covers the conditions and practices that maintain health and prevent spreading disease transmission, including hand-washing, food hygiene and menstrual hygiene management.

WASH interventions focus on improving equitable access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene, especially in underserved or vulnerable communities. One recent progress report finds that as of 2024, 2.1 billion people still lacked access to clean water, 3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation and 1.7 billion lacked basic hygiene services. Common interventions include expanding safe water access through wells, boreholes and water treatment and distribution systems, alongside constructing or upgrading sanitation facilities and sewer networks to safely contain, transport, treat and dispose of human waste.

Safe, sufficient WASH services are important not only for health, livelihoods, education and dignity but also for supporting shifts toward the sustainable use of global freshwater resources, including minimizing disruptions and pollution in the water cycle, restoring freshwater ecosystems and halting further degradation. Freshwater flows and stocks directly affect the quantity and quality of water available for WASH, and in turn, effective WASH practices help prevent pollution and overuse of vital water resources such as lakes, rivers and groundwater. For this reason, efforts to protect, restore and sustainably manage freshwater ecosystems must advance in parallel with efforts to universalize access to WASH.

In practice, WASH interventions — including modernizing pipelines, treating and reusing wastewater, and installing low-flow toilets — can reduce the total water withdrawn from freshwater sources. Yet significant inefficiencies remain: about 40% of potable urban water supply is lost through leakage and system inefficiencies. Closing this and other gaps is a major opportunity to reduce water waste while improving reliable, efficient access in the face of intensifying climate stress. WASH also plays a critical role in enhancing communities’ climate resilience by strengthening their ability to withstand floods, droughts and other climate-related water risks.
 

Global inequalities in clean water access

Access to WASH services remains highly inequitable between and within countries, as well as across gender, socioeconomic status and rural-urban divides. In most countries, for example, women and girls continue to be primarily responsible for water collection, often spending more than 30 minutes per day — a burden concentrated in Africa and central and southern Asia. 

The recent expansion of privatized water and sanitation services, particularly in low-income countries, has significant implications for equitable access and effective governance. While privatization can improve infrastructure, without appropriate regulation and safeguards against monopolization, these benefits may be limited, unevenly distributed or never achieved. When people are not connected to public water systems and must rely on private water tankers and vendors, they may end up paying 6-10 times more than households connected to piped networks.
 

Expanding access to clean water and sanitation

Achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation will require both private and public sources of finance to meet the scale of investment needed, alongside strengthening and expanding sources of finance — including increasing international support for developing countries — to achieve global development targets.

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals established ambitious global targets for achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water (Target 6.1) and sanitation and hygiene (Target 6.2) by 2030. Although many countries are seeing improvements, the world is not on track to reach these targets.

Accelerating progress will require improving water governance, strengthening institutional capacity, customizing financing strategies, and enforcing regulations and laws related to water management and water rights. Governments must also ensure that solutions prioritize the needs of underserved and marginalized groups — including women, Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant and local communities, and low-income households — and enable their meaningful participation in planning and decision-making.