The environmental dimensions of universal access to safe water

The
world
faces
a
major
challenge
in
adapting
to
a
future
where
demand
for
water
is
accelerating,
but
supply
remains
essentially
fixed
and
increasingly
variable.
Meeting
this
challenge
is
central
to
achieving
the
Sustainable
Development
Goals
(SDGs)
as
water
is
a
common
denominator
linking
health,
food
security
and
nutrition,
clean
energy,
sustainable
cities,
climate
action,
gender
equality
and
the
protection
of
ecosystems.
The
overall
framing
of
the
SDGs,
and
Goal
6
specifically,
marked
a
desire
to
unite
the
hitherto
polarised
spheres
of
environment
and
development,
recognising
the
need
to
both
develop
water
resources
for
domestic
and
productive
uses,
and
to
protect
them
for
current
and
future
generations
(1,
2).
Against
this
background,
Goal
6
‐
Ensuring
availability
and
sustainable
management
of
water
and
sanitation
for
all
by
2030
–
represents
a
hard
‐
won
marriage
of
environmental
and
developmental
objectives.
But
can
we
‘have
our
cake
and
eat
it?’
Unlike
energy,
where
tradeoffs
between
energy
expansion
and
environmental
degradation
can
be
negated
through
renewables,
extending
access
to
water
without
a
commensurate
increase
in
‘efficiency’,
or
reallocation
from
another
use/user,
may
increase
pressure
on
a
finite
resource.
In
a
2050
world
of
almost
10
billion
people
1
requiring
food,
energy
and
drinking
water,
demands
and
trade
‐
offs
will
increase