Sustainable water management means the ability to meet the water needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. On a global scale, having sustainable water means each person on the planet has affordable access to the minimum 20-50 litres of water daily required to sustain life.
five approaches to
Sustainable Water Management
Critical Statistics Reveal Growing Crisis
Progress on SDG 6 remains critically off track. In 2024, 2.2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water, 3.4 billion went without safely managed sanitation and 1.7 billion lacked basic hygiene services at home. Achieving universal coverage by 2030 will require a quadrupling of current rates of progress.
Climate Change Intensifies Water Stress
The climate crisis is dramatically exacerbating water challenges globally. Today, 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high-water shortages, of whom 1.2 billion people live in severely water-constrained agricultural areas. The United Nations predicts that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries with absolute water scarcity, and almost half the world's population will face high water stress by 2030.
The Interconnected Impact
The United Nations emphasises that water is at the core of sustainable development and critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and human survival. The lack of progress on SDG 6 undermines progress on all other SDGs, particularly impacting global health, education, food security, gender equality, energy access, and climate action. This compromises the entire 2030 Agenda and weakens the international community's ability to build resilience against future crises.
The Critical Role of Local Governments
Local governments have an increasingly vital role in sustainable water management and ensuring access to clean water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. With rapid urbanization, local authorities are on the front lines of addressing water challenges. Their proximity to communities makes them essential partners in developing sustainable water solutions that can adapt to changing climate conditions.
With less than six years remaining to achieve SDG 6 by 2030, immediate and transformative action is required at all levels of government to prevent a catastrophic failure to provide this most basic human need.
Below are 5 programmes on the use platform being implemented by local governments in partnerships with NGO’s, civil society and the private sector to build sustainable water practices in their cities.
Shijiuyang Ecological Wetland for Safe Drinking Water
Jiaxing City in China's Yangtze River Delta faced drinking water contamination from upstream pollution and rapid industrial development, prompting the government to pioneer artificial ecological wetlands that use aquatic plants to effectively remove pollutants and achieve national water quality standards. This innovative ecological approach ensures safe drinking water for residents while improving environmental conditions.
This initiative was launched in 2019, targeting 10,000 annual rainwater harvesting system installations. After doubling its budget in 2022 to install 20,000 systems yearly, the program reached 62,700 total installations by October 2023, making the city the global leader in rainwater harvesting.
Paraná’s Water Basin Committees
The City of Paraná has implemented a strategy that facilitates citizen participation in the environmental management of the cities 16 streams. Citizens work with the Departments of Sustainable Environment and Planning to further develop strategies and plans, identify challenges and research possible solutions.
Pluit Reservoir Revitalization Project
The Pluit Reservoir Revitalization Project is an initiative of the City of Jakarta to reduce urban flooding, improve water storage capacity and the quality of its prime water source and transform some areas into parks and public open space.
The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy
The Lima Ecological Infrastructure Strategy (LEIS) aim is to integrate in a participatory way, urban landscape planning and design with water management, to support the urban water cycle. This includes the treatment and reuse of wastewater to increase access to green public spaces and ecosystem service in the city, considering different ecological, environmental, socio-economic and cultural landscapes.
For more programmes and policies related to Sustainable Water Management search the use data base by SDG 6 or topic – sustainable water management: https://use.metropolis.org/search