SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS GOAL 6 – CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

AUTHORS

Amandeep Singh Kalsi; b19123@astra.xlri.ac.in

Ankur Goyal; b19125@astra.xlri.ac.in

Dhairya Desai; b19135@astra.xlri.ac.in

Happy Kukreja; b19138@astra.xlri.ac.in

Mohit Marhatta; b19148@astra.xlri.ac.in

Shashwat Jha; b19166@astra.xlri.ac.in

“Many of the wars in this century were about oil, but the wars of the next century will be over water.” – Ismail Serageldin, Vice-President, World Bank

In the year 1995, Ismail Serageldin, the vice-president of the World Bank for Environmentally Sustainable Development, added in the interview, in a world where nearly one thousand children continue to die daily due to sanitation-related diseases and water, we are fighting a war against time”. By 2030, we could potentially lose another 3.5 million children to preventable diseases.

Goal 6 has a total of eight targets, which include access to safe and affordable drinking water, access to sanitation and an end to open defecation, improving water quality by controlling pollution, improved efficiency of water-use, integrated management of water resources, and the restoration of water-related ecosystems. Targets 6.a and 6.b cover expanding international cooperation and capacity building to the developing world, and involving local communities to improve water and sanitation management. Progress on these goals is monitored based on eleven different indicators, by various custodian agencies of the United Nations (UN) such as the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) etc. As per a report published by the UN in 2018, many of the indicators used for goal 6 are new, and only a limited time series is available for most of them, which continues to be a challenge in effectively determining the rate of progress on the targets.

Goal 6 in addition to being an important goal by itself, is also a prerequisite for achieving several other sustainable development goals (SDGs), a fact that has been reiterated by the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), a network of organisations committed towards the achievement of Goal 6. SuSanA’s position is that the SDGs are highly interdependent. From the list of goals, it is clear that Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being can only be achieved once Goal 6 is. Therefore, it is a precursor to meeting many of the other SDGs.

RELEVANCE TO INDIA

In a country where the economy is still largely dependent on agriculture, clean water and environmental sustainability should be one of the critical concerns of the government. The Indian government recognises this and since the formal inception of SDGs and even before that has made efforts to integrate the country’s development ambitions with sustainability goals. During the Sustainable Development Summit in New York on 25 September 2015, the Indian PM Narendra Modi made the following statement about the challenges of today, “an age of unprecedented prosperity, but also unspeakable deprivation around the world” and mentioned that “much of India’s development agenda is mirrored in the Sustainable Development Goals”.
Apart from safeguarding the economy, the fundamental reason for India pursuing SDG6 is to improve the quality of life of millions of families living in rural India. As per the Census 2011 report, only 30% of households in rural areas and 70% of households in urban areas have access to tap water supply. Looking at the data state-wise, Bihar performs the worst with only 2% in rural areas and 20% in urban areas and Sikkim the best with 82% in rural areas and 92% households in urban areas having access to tap water. The challenge here is for the government to provide universal access to safe drinking water to all by improving water management and building the necessary infrastructure to reach remote areas.
Sanitation is essential for healthcare, and an investment into proper sanitation is equivalent to future savings in medical treatment. However, in 2011, only 47% of all households and only 30% of rural households had latrines in their homes. The challenge for the government here is not only to construct toilets for all the households but also to bring about a behavioural change in people and educate them about the risks associated with open defecation.
With the integration of the two ministries into the Jal Shakti Mantralaya in May 2019, the government has brought the ambitious objectives of cleaning river Ganga and providing tap water to all households under the same umbrella. Another highly successful initiative is the Swachh Bharat Mission under which, as of November 2018, 3.9 lakh villages were declared open defecation free while 96% of the targeted household toilets have been constructed.

BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS

There exists an intricate relationship between businesses and the environment, in which they flourish. The wellbeing of the business environment is paramount for businesses’ wellbeing. Additionally, in the information age, it is extremely difficult for businesses to avoid their responsibilities towards the environment and society and get away with it. It, therefore, becomes imperative for businesses to contribute towards the maintenance of the environment. However, many businesses do fulfil their responsibility towards the environment. As per an article in the Guardian, the world’s top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, in which overuse and pollution of fresh-water is a major component.
Earnest and Young have identified four key themes: growth, risk, capital and purpose for companies to create opportunities to tackle these issues by harnessing the SGDs.

Due to the current depreciating state of natural resources, the very assumption of going concern is at risk. Businesses are facing major risks which need to be addressed if they are to survive in the long run.
Due to the current state of water scarcity and sanitation, businesses & communities, globally, are facing various challenges:

Organizations across the globe are facing reputational risk because of unsustainable water practices. Communities, media, and the public are becoming increasingly aware of how companies exploit and pollute ground-water and leave the water table in lousy shape. On one instance, thousands of residents took part in 10 days march in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for two Coca – Cola bottling plants depleting ground-water. The local government revoked the license to operate last year and ordered to shut the plants. In another instance, Colgate Palmolive was required to install a biological wastewater treatment plant in Colombia due to increased regulatory requirements.
The beverage industry is staring at extinction if it does not act fast. Soft drink giants like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, which use gallons of water every day are already diversifying to other products. Brewery multinational AbInbev is investing in watersheds to replenish the aquifer water they use.
Reallocation of the production facility and change in production patterns due to the unavailability of water for water-intensive industries like beverage companies, semiconductor companies, and the impact on labour force due to water pollution.
Another issue that arises from the water crisis is poor sanitation. As per research jointly published by the LIXIL Group Corporation, Water Aid and Oxford Economics in 2016, the cost of poor sanitation to India is 5.2% of its GDP. The hours of worker productivity lost also costs the businesses in the form of less production, idle assets and lower employee morale due to the increased burden on other employees.

Certain businesses also go the extra mile to contribute to the conservation of water. Mahindra, for example, is water positive. The group companies consume 3,00,000 cubic metres combined, and 4,00,000+ cubic metres is recycled and reused. Other initiatives include “Swachchmeva Jayate” and “Recycling in harmony with nature”.
In 2017, Colgate launched the “Save Water Campaign” in 11 Asian countries that aimed at reminding the customers that water can be saved during brushing, bathing, and washing hands and dishes.

CURRENT SITUATION

Access to water, sanitation and hygiene cannot be achieved globally without the help of corporates. Until recently, their support for the cause of clean drinking water to communities was mostly philanthropic. However, there is a sharp business angle to be considered:
Firstly, due to a limited supply of water for the increasing competition amidst rapid urbanization and population growth, any mismanagement of this resource increases the risk of conflict with local stakeholders, with a potential loss of social licence to operate.
Secondly, clean water access can potentially reduce absenteeism and increase the turnover of supply-chain workers. This gets validated by an estimate by WHO that states for every dollar invested in sanitation, the economic benefits translate to a range from $3-$16 by keeping people healthy and thus productive.
Such an increase in quality and productivity can also encourage other suppliers to help in improving water practices.
For more than a decade, an increasing number of businesses have tried to understand the risks of water-related problems on them. Of them, more than a thousand companies that responded to the latest CDP water report, about two-thirds indicated that water posed a significant risk to their business. About 25% feared that water issues could limit the growth of their business.
Given these concerns, many companies have started to manage their discharge and understand the impact they have on local water bodies. WBCSD’s corporate WASH pledge helps to support companies in developing the right set of internal processes to help secure access to WASH for all employees. However, responsibilities do not end at the factory fence, instead starts here. There are increasing expectations of companies to safeguard the now formally recognized human right to water and sanitation.
Some have already started making a concerted effort in this direction. For instance, Coca-Cola has so far spent about a billion dollars, developing wastewater treatment plants around the world. Another drinks company, SABMiller, had set and successfully met a target of reducing water in its breweries by 20% by 2015 from a 2008 baseline. Heineken also reduced its breweries’ water consumption by 23% and tightened its 2020 water consumption targets even more, with half a litre lesser water per litre of beer. But we cannot rely on corporation-led goals alone.
While some companies might find it relatively easy to implement specific guidelines for in-house operations, a large number find it difficult to ensure access to water and decent toilets in their supply chains. For instance, many of the global agribusinesses who employ thousands of seasonal workers and maintain an extensive supply chain often find it challenging to ensure that there are toilets on large farms.
Active involvement of top-level management to get WASH on their corporate agenda is vital in such cases. That entails the collection of relevant data to demonstrate the impact of previous interventions and the way forward.

THE SUGGESTED PATH

The need of the hour is for businesses to realize the gravity of the situation and step up to the pedestal in order to ensure the sustainability of businesses, society, and the world at large. The way to achieve the same is to integrate the SDGs with business strategy. The same can be done in the following manner:

Recognition of responsibility: The organizations should identify the goals that are related to their business directly or indirectly. Thereafter, targets must be set in order to achieve sustainability. The targets must be publicly announced in order to increase accountability.
Goal setting: Each SDG is accompanied by sub-targets. There are 169 targets in the 17 SDGs. The same should be referred to while setting the targets.
Alignment of SDGs to Corporate Vision: These targets must be aligned with the company’s purpose and mission and vision. This will also aid in developing synergies within the current organizational setup and enhance the performance of the organization.
Collaborate: The organizations should also look forward to collaborating with governments and NGOs. This will help in the “on-ground” implementation of policies and will enable the alignment between cultural sentiments and sustainable growth.
Control and accountability: The performance towards SDGs should be analyzed vis a vis the targets set. Any variances should be further investigated. Additionally, businesses should be held accountable for their activities towards achieving SDGs. The efforts towards achieving SDGs should also be included in the annual reports of the company. Companies should also work towards including SDGs in their decision-making process.

REFERENCES:

Companies SDG reports:

Vodafone: https://www.vodafone.com/content/index/about/sustainability/approach-and-reporting/our-contribution-to-the-un-sdgs.html

BCG: https://www.bcg.com/en-in/capabilities/social-impact/overview.aspx

ITC: https://www.itcportal.com/sustainability/watershed-development-programme.aspx

Colgate Palmolive: https://www.colgatepalmolive.com/en-us/core-values/sustainability/reporting

Mahindra: https://www.mahindra.com/resources/investor-reports/FY20/Sustainability-Policies/Mahindra-SDG-Report.pdf

Other References:

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