Clean water and sanitation – supporting UN SDG 6
The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a universal framework for action to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and protect our planet.
Goal 6 seeks to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all people.
This collection supports the kaupapa of the Touch Aotearoa project. This project aims to bring sustainability and wellbeing to New Zealand in a way that inspires our communities to take action, whether it is large or small, to show Aotearoa that every action makes a difference.
This collection was created to support Touch the World - an initiative seeking to educate communities around environmental and social sustainability while empowering them to become confident in themselves and responsible stewards of the Earth.
View the Touch the World school resource, which features the artwork of Yaniv Daniel Janson. It also covers SDG goals 1, 6, 11, 13 and 14.
The demand for water has outpaced population growth, and half the world’s population is already experiencing severe water scarcity at least one month a year. Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is a human right, yet billions are still faced with daily challenges.
- 1/3 of people lack access to safely managed drinking water services
- About 3 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines.
- More than 80% of wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into rivers or sea without any treatment, leading to pollution.
This collection is split into categories:
- water quality
- sources of water pollution
- wastewater treatment
Water quality
The factors that affect water quality include where the water comes from, what is in the environment in the collection area and how it is treated.
The following resources explore factors that affect water quality.
Global water perspectives
Use colourful infographics to compare water challenges, water use, abundance and supply in Aotearoa New Zealand, Kenya, India and China. Great cross-curricular learning.
Nature.com has maps that show:
- Countries with access to safe water
- Countries with unsafe water
- Countries with water scarcity or sufficiency
Sources of water pollution
The following resources explore different means by which water can become polluted. Some of the resources show how scientists are working to identify sources to prevent future contamination.
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater contains bacteria, viruses and other contaminants that can make people sick. It is vital that wastewater is treated before being discharged to a waterway.
The following resources explore wastewater treatment methods used in New Zealand.
Yaniv Janson created paintings that explore United Nations Sustainable Development Goals such as climate change, water quality, oceanic ecological systems, poverty and sustainable cities. Each painting is partnered with another to represent what will happen if we take action, as opposed to doing nothing.
Yaniv partnered with the Te Uku Primary school near Raglan for an educational project, which combines raising awareness of environmental and social sustainability amongst students and eliciting actions.
Find out about the project and the work at Te Uku Primary school at this site: http://y-learning.blogspot.com/2019/10/te-uku-primary-school-end-of-year.html
The website Touch the World has information about the Sustainable Schools Journals program. The program seeks to educate communities about environmental and social sustainability. https://sites.google.com/view/touch-the-world/home?authuser=0
The Schools tab has information about the Sustainable Schools Journals and how they were used in Te Uku School. https://sites.google.com/view/touch-the-world/schools?authuser=0