Water and Sanitation

Water is the most immediate vital necessity for life Water and sanitation are at the core of
sustainable development, and the range of services they provide underpin poverty reduction,
economic growth and environmental sustainability
Nowdays lack access to safely managed drinking water, and more than 4.2 billion people lack safely
managed sanitation due to Climate change increasing disasters such as floods and droughts is .
exacerbating this situation . 80 per cent of wastewater in the world flows back into the ecosystem
without being treated or reused, and 70 per cent of the world’s natural wetland extent has been lost,
including a significant loss of freshwater species. .

Now more than ever the world needs to transform the way it manages its water resources and delivers
water and sanitation services for billions of people. Urgent action is needed to overcome this global
crisis, as it is affecting all countries around the world, socially, economically and environmentally.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on water and sanitation, adopted by United Nations
Member States at the 2015 UN Summit as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
provides the blueprint for ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
for all.
As a direct response to the Decade of Action and Delivery for Sustainable Development called for by
Heads of State and Government at the SDG Summit in 2019, the UN system launched the SDG 6
Global Acceleration Framework in July 2020, to step up progress towards the Sustainable
Development Goals and put the world on track to realize their targets by 2030. We call upon all
stakeholders to galvanize actions around the framework in order to accelerate achievement of the
water-related goals and targets and overcome the global crisis.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 goes beyond drinking water, sanitation and hygiene to also address
the quality and sustainability of water resources, which are critical to the survival of people and the
planet. The 2030 Agenda recognizes the centrality of water resources to sustainable development and
the vital role that improved drinking water, sanitation and hygiene play in progress in other areas,
including health, education and poverty reduction
n Indonesia, more than 90 percent of the population currently has access to proper drinking water.
However, only 11 percent of people have access to safe drinking water.
Meanwhile, currently, around 80 percent of the population has proper sanitation access, but new safe
sanitation is only available to 7 percent of Indonesians.
This is despite the fact that according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the
provision of safe drinking water and sanitation determine the quality of people's life.
Currently, around two million people in the world do not have proper access to safe drinking water
and more than three million people do not have access to safe sanitation.
This is unfortunate given that the two basic needs can reduce the disease index by 0.39 percent.
Without safe sanitation and water, children become vulnerable to stunting, Indonesian Vice President
Ma'ruf Amin said during the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) 2022 Sector Ministers Meeting
(SMM)
Safe sanitation and drinking water have also become important requirements for ensuring the
transition to a green and eco-friendly economy so that the people's prosperity and life quality can
continue to improve, the Vice President added.
Related news: Availability of clean water, proper sanitation can reduce poverty: VP
Moreover, the UN General Assembly in 2010 acknowledged access to safe sanitation and drinking
water as a basic human right, he highlighted.
To this end, “Ensure Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for All” is
one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that must be achieved by 2030, Amin emphasized.
Hence, every country must make a clear work plan with measured indicators and implement it
through a holistic and integrated approach, he opined.
He called for the creation of a global partnership for realizing access to sanitation and safe drinking
water, which are currently only available to a section of the global population.
"We have to continue to bolster global partnerships in handling this multidimensional problem," he
remarked.
At the Sector Ministers Meeting, the vice president conveyed three points. First, he invited all parties
to strengthen their joint commitment to increasing public access to sanitation and safe drinking water
globally.
According to Amin, strong commitment from political leaders will encourage the mobilization of the
necessary resources.
Second, the Vice President invited all parties to use the forum as a place to learn from each other and
exchange information about the best practices in their country or region so that they can be emulated
by others.
Third, he invited all parties to use the forum to develop networks and collaborations because a
government's success is also determined by the involvement of the business world, philanthropic
organizations, professional organizations, academics, media, and non-governmental organizations.
Related news: Increasing clean water access, sanitation facilities reduce stunting
Meanwhile, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said that Indonesia has
continued to encourage the acceleration and expansion of access to clean water and safe sanitation
through various programs.
Expanding access to clean water and safe sanitation are key to reducing poverty, he added.
"Indonesia has made good progress in accelerating efforts to improve access to water, sanitation, and
hygiene," he noted.

He emphasized that Indonesia is pushing to strengthen political commitment to expedite the

realization of the goal of safe drinking water and sanitation to support efforts to reduce stunting and
extreme poverty, especially in rural areas.

Moreover, the Indonesian government is committed to reducing extreme poverty to zero percent by
2024 from 4 percent in 2021, he highlighted.
"The strategy to achieve this is through a cross-sectoral development approach in several priority
areas. In 2021, poverty alleviation programs had been implemented in 35 priority districts," he said.

The programs were related to water, sanitation, and housing and focused on large areas and
strengthening community capacity, he informed.

Related news: Indonesia continues improving access to clean water, safe sanitation

Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative Robert Gass said that safe sanitation is life-changing for children
and puts them on the path to reaching their full potential.

However, far too many children are living in communities impacted by unsafe sanitation, which is
endangering every aspect of their development, he added in a statement.

Although Indonesia has made significant progress in improving basic sanitation, less than 8 percent of
households have a toilet connected to a sealed septic tank and received desludging services at least
once in the past five years.
This has led to the poor management of fecal matter, causing it to seep into surrounding environments
and nearby water sources.
Low community awareness of the public health risks of inadequate management of septic tanks as
well as insufficient household demand for desludging services are among the main challenges to
increasing access to safe sanitation, with many families not understanding the need to connect toilets
to a piped sewerage system or sealed septic tanks that are periodically emptied.
The government of Indonesia is currently developing a national road map to accelerate access to
safely managed sanitation, with support from UNICEF and other partners.
Later this year, a high-level Sanitation and Water for All conference will take place in Jakarta in May,
when ministers responsible for water, sanitation, health, environment, and the economy from across
the world will come together to discuss accelerating access to water, sanitation, and hygiene.
“The pandemic has brought greater attention to the importance of living in a clean environment,” said
Gass.
Poorly managed sanitation can weaken children’s immune systems and cause irreversible harm, or
even death. Through this initiative, it is hoped that more communities across the country will take a
greater role in managing their household sanitation to improve the health and well-being of children
and their families, he said.