In the lead up to a High-level Political Forum held at the United Nations in July, which discussed progress and challenges on a range of SDGs, including goal six, WaterAid Australia drew attention to the challenges of achieving the objective.
Based on its current rate of progress, Laos is projected to achieve national access to basic water and sanitation by 2024.
By 2015, more than 91 percent of the population had access to basic water, putting the country on track to achieve universal basic water access by 2025.
“For every dollar spent on water and sanitation, on average $4 is returned in economic benefits, according to World Bank estimates.” In 2000, Papua New Guinea had enabled 36.7 percent of its population to access basic water and 18.7 percent basic sanitation.
Based on this rate of progress, Equatorial Guinea will achieve national coverage for basic water by 3119.
Beginning in 2000, data shows just 16.8 percent of the nation had access to basic water and 7.5 percent access to basic sanitation.
Just over half the population had access to appropriate facilities for basic sanitation in 2015, but with an annual progress of 0.2 percent, the country is projected to achieve basic sanitation targets by 3468.
These three nations also face other challenges.
Despite national basic water coverage, 1 percent of Germany’s population has no access to basic sanitation.
Although projections show the challenging road ahead for water and sanitation, they do not factor in additional challenges — such as future natural disasters, conflicts, and economic crises — have in achieving universal access targets.