Access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being. Billions of people will lack access to these basic services in 2030 unless progress quadruples. Demand for water is rising owing to rapid population growth, urbanization and increasing water needs from agriculture, industry, and energy sectors. Decades of misuse, poor management, overextraction of groundwater and contamination of freshwater supplies have exacerbated water stress. In addition, countries are facing growing challenges linked to degraded water-related ecosystems, water scarcity caused by climate change, underinvestment in water and sanitation and insufficient cooperation on transboundary waters.

Between 2015 and 2020, the population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 70 per cent to 74 per cent, the population with safely managed sanitation increased from 47 per cent to 54 per cent and the population with access to handwashing facilities with soap and water in the home increased from 67 per cent to 71 per cent. Rates of progress for these basic services would need to quadruple for universal coverage to be reached by 2030. 

Assessment of rivers, lakes and aquifers in 97 countries in 2020 shows that 60 per cent of water bodies assessed have good water quality. Of the 76,000 water bodies that were reported on in 2020, only 1 per cent were from the poorest countries. For at least 3 billion people, the quality of the water they rely upon is unknown owing to a lack of monitoring.

Water use efficiency worldwide rose from $17.4 per cubic metre in 2015 to $19.4 per cubic metre in 2019, which represents a 12 per cent efficiency increase. Around 57 per cent of countries presented a water use efficiency equivalent to $20 per cubic metre or less in 2019.

Across the world, water stress levels remained safe at 18.6 per cent in 2019, although this hides large regional variations. Southern Asia and Central Asia registered high levels of water stress at over 75 per cent, whereas Northern Africa registered a critical water stress level of over 100 per cent. Since 2015, water stress levels have increased significantly in Western Asia and Northern Africa.

To ensure a sustainable and equitable distribution of water to meet domestic, industrial, agricultural and environmental needs, the average global rate of implementation of improved management of water resources – from 49 in 2017 to 54 in 2020 – needs urgently to double. With political will and adequate financing, 22 countries made significant gains between 2017 and 2020, showing that real and rapid progress is possible and providing tangible examples for the 107 countries that need to significantly accelerate implementation.

Transboundary rivers, lakes, and aquifers are shared by 153 countries around the world. Ensuring that these waters are managed equitably, sustainably, and peacefully, particularly in the context of climate change, requires countries to put in place operational arrangements for water cooperation. Data from 2017 and 2020 suggest slow progress, with only 32 countries having 90 percent or more of their transboundary waters covered by such arrangements. 

Over the past 300 years, wetland ecosystems have experienced an 85 percent loss in extent despite the very high-value goods and services that they provide. Additionally, the extent of surface water bodies, including lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, is rapidly changing across the entire planet, with one in five river basins experiencing high - above natural - fluctuations in surface water during the last five years. Population growth, changes to land cover and land use, and climate change are key drivers of these changes to freshwater ecosystems.