SGD clean water and sanitation (Country: Nepal)

1. PRESENT STATE OF CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
AROUND THE WORLD WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS IN
NEPAL
Prepared by: Prasang Mudbhary

2. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)
The United Nations with all the members from developed and
developing countries decided in 2015 to share the blueprint for ‘The
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. As a result, 17
sustainable development goals were formed in order to tackle and
provide better living conditions which helps the mankind as well as
preserves the ecosystem. In this term paper, I have opted for the goal
6 of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), which is ‘Ensure
availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for
all’. The presentation will highlight the current scenario of these issues
on a global scale and aims to reflect how the United Nations’ have
been active to guarantee sustainable management of water and
sanitation in a developing country like Nepal.

3. GOAL 6: CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
OVERVIEW
Fig 1: United Nations. (2021). Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Department of
Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal6#overview.

4. WATER AND SANITATION (WASH)
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is at the center of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) agenda with a distinct sector Goal (SDG 6) and
its corresponding targets6.1 and 6.2 envisaging universal and equitable
access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.
Achievement of SDG targets 6.1 and 6.2 will contribute to a number of
other goals including those related to nutrition, health, education,
poverty and economic growth, urban services, gender equality, resilience
and climate change.
Fig 1: Karki, A. (2018). A young girl washing her face. Water
and Sanitation (WASH). United Nations. Retrieved from
https://www.unicef.org/nepal/water-and-sanitation-wash.

5. OBJECTIVES OF WASH
• Improve access to safe water at schools and health care facilities through inter-sectoral collaboration.
• Scale up sanitation social movement and the total sanitation concept.
• Engage private sector to promote improved hygiene practices and create markets for sanitation.
• Advocate for gender and disability-friendly sanitation facilities in health facilities, ECD centers and schools.
• Use mass media and social media to raise awareness on hygiene behaviors including menstrual hygiene management
practices.
• Improve water quality by strengthening the water regulatory body, implementing water safety plans, and enhancing
community awareness on household-level water treatments.
• Develop a strategy to ensure the access of unreached populations to safe water and strengthen the functionality,
coverage, sustainability and resilience of water supply systems.
• Support government to formulae a new WASH act and revise policies to promote gender equality and social inclusion in
access to WASH facilities.
• Mainstream Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Action (CCA) component into existing WASH policies
and provide support to enhanced preparedness.
“Water and Sanitation (WASH) | UNICEF Nepal.” UNICEF,
UnitedNations,2018,https://www.unicef.org/nepal/water-and-sanitation-wash.

6. Universal access to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene is
fundamental to the COVID-19 response
Fig: Global coverage of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services, 2015 and 2020 (percentage) (United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD),
2021)

7. Water stress is getting worse in subregions with already high
or critical levels
Fig 4: Levels of water stress (freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources), regions with high and very high-water stress, 2015
and 2018 (percentage) (United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), 2021)

8. Freshwater ecosystems are changing dramatically, signaling
the need for an urgent response
Fig 5: Loss of inland wetlands over three centuries 1700–2020 (percentage), and coastal mangrove area, 1996–2016 (thousands of square kilometers)
(United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), 2021)

9. UNICEF’S RESULTS IN NEPAL
The significant results of the UNICEF’S new program are (UNICEF Nepal,
2018):
• Water Supply : Increased capacity to improve water quality and
functionality and to deliver and sustain safe water (Especially schools
and healthcare facilities)
• Sanitation and Hygiene : Improved sanitation and hygiene behaviors and
enhanced capacity of sector stakeholders to provide access to safe and
sustainable sanitation and hygiene facilities in homes and institutions
• Systems Strengthening : Increased capacity to legislate, plan and budget
to improve WASH systems, including mainstreaming disaster risk
management

10. CONCLUSIONS
• As witnessed in the above results, it is evident that achieving drinking
water, sanitation and hygiene targets by the year 2030 will only be
possible if there exists tremendous rate of progress.
• Almost some billions of people around the world still lack basic water
services and proper sanitation.
• Freshwater regions are vanishing significantly and there has to be
collective work from everyone to preserve and sustain these wetlands.
• To preserve the overall wellness of mankind and biodiversity, it is
necessary to upgrade existing water quality.
• There are remarkable progress in terms of drinking water quality,
sanitation and hygiene in case of Nepal.
• A certain portion of population in Nepal still are at risk of having diarrhea
due to improper water treatment practices.