The SDGs Basic – Clean Water and Sanitation

Girls and women need equal rights and opportunities without discrimination. However, there are some gender issues around wage inequality, employment, physical violence, sexual harassment, marriage, and pregnancy.

Data shows that 49 countries still lack laws protecting women from domestic violence, whereas 15 million girls under the age of 18 get married every year.

There has been progress in accessing clean drinking water, but billions of people, mostly in rural areas, still lack access to these services. Data shows that 3 out of 10 individuals do not have access to safe drinking water, and 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services such as toilets or bathrooms. Moreover, at least 892 million people continue to practice open defecation. If this continues, more people will suffer from water-borne diseases.

This situation also reduces women’s opportunities for education and economic involvement. In 80 percent of households without access to water, women and girls are in charge of water collection. This means they won’t be able to work or go to school.

Water is important for many things, including drinking, toilets, livestock, and businesses. Farm managers with high-producing dairy cows have reported big improvements in milk output when cows have easy access to water. It is known that stale, poor-tasting water reduces water consumption and that this type of water could be a breeding ground for disease-causing organisms.

The cost of doing business is increasing. In Brazil, for example, the 2015 drought cost an extra $8 million including higher utility bills. According to Ecolab, a water treatment company based in the United States, 80 percent of the water used by corporations comes from their supply networks. Falling water levels can cause delays in shipping, leaving cargo stranded on the way to its destination.