As of 2024, approximately 2 billion people worldwide still lack access to safely managed sanitation facilities at home, while 2.2 billion people do not have safely managed drinking water services. Despite significant progress in recent decades, advancement toward universal access is decelerating, particularly in rural areas and among the most vulnerable populations. Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) will require substantial investments to expand equitable access to safe water and sanitation for all, improve water quality by reducing pollution, increase water-use efficiency across all sectors, and strengthen integrated water resources management at all levels.
This blog post highlights water and sanitation research published on Open Research Europe concerning SDG-6.
Freshwater monitoring across the globe: the role of citizen science within the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and opportunities to incentivize the collaboration with environmental regulators
Freshwater ecosystems are increasingly threatened by a range of chemical and physical stressors driven by global and regional shifts such as population growth, intensified agriculture, urban expansion, inadequate wastewater treatment, and climate change. These combined pressures threaten ecosystem health and their ability to deliver essential services to humans. Effective monitoring is crucial to track rapid ecosystem changes, but many regulatory agencies and research institutions lack the resources and capacity to monitor large-scale temporal and spatial dynamics adequately.
Citizen science plays a crucial role in reporting water quality data across the world. An Open Letter published on Open Research Europe as part of the Horizon 2020 Gateway outlines the vital role of citizen science in supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by addressing information gaps in aquatic ecosystem management. It analyzes 85 publications on freshwater citizen science, revealing that while citizen-generated data can be gathered with an accuracy of 70% to 90% compared to laboratory results, there remains a lack of trust and limited engagement with policymakers and regulatory agencies.
Read the full Open Letter here.
Hydrothermal carbonization as an alternative sanitation technology: process optimization and development of low-cost reactor
Untreated human waste poses a serious risk to public health and environment. In 2020 almost half of the global population still does not have access to safely managed sanitation services that properly contain and treat the fecal waste. In the least developed countries (LDCs), the conditions are most severe with only 26% of people covered by suitable services. To be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) aimed at universal access to safely managed sanitation services by 2030, the current rate of progress in LDCs must be accelerated.
In regions where centralized sewer collection and wastewater treatment systems are unaffordable, onsite or decentralized technologies such as pit latrines and septic tanks can be implemented as the collection method. The fecal sludge generated from these technologies requires appropriate service chains that target the safe end-use or disposal of the final product. One of the main reasons for insufficient service provision is the high economic cost for stakeholders. In recent years, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) has been investigated to treat fecal waste for sanitization and resource recovery. It is a thermochemical process that converts wet biomass into more carbonaceous materials at relatively low temperatures under pressurized conditions. The output from the HTC treatment usually has the form of a thick slurry which further can be separated into solid hydrochar (HC) and organic-rich process water (PW). These products have a wide range of potential applications, for example, as energy sources or fertilizers.
Research published on Open Research Europe, and funded by Horizon 2020 and Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions, proposes hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) as an alternative sanitation technology for treating raw human waste, focusing on resource recovery of energy and nutrients. A low-cost reactor was developed and tested, demonstrating stable operation and energy efficiency comparable to commercial systems, while achieving significant recovery of phosphorus and energy from the process.
Read the full Research Article here.
Application of solar-based oxidation to the management of empty pesticide container rinse water in Bolivia
Since the middle of the 20th century, the use of pesticides has become essential to ensure the quantity and quality of food needed to meet the demands of a growing human population. Pesticides are applied to prevent, destroy, and control pests, thereby safeguarding agricultural crop production. However, their use has always posed risks to human health and environmental safety, as these chemicals can harm non-target organisms.
Bolivia, a developing country with a large agricultural sector, commonly uses hazardous herbicides such as atrazine (ATZ) and dimethoate (DIM). In addition to the direct impact of widespread pesticide application, misinformation among Bolivian farmers leads to the accumulation of large quantities of empty pesticide containers (EPCs) along field margins and rivers. This also significantly contributes to environmental contamination through natural washout of these receptacles.
The following Research Article published on Open Research Europe looks at the effectiveness of solar photo-Fenton treatment in removing pesticides like dimethoate and atrazine from rinse water of empty pesticide containers in Bolivia. Findings indicate that low doses of iron ions combined with a specific concentration of hydrogen peroxide can remove over 99% of both ATZ and DIM within 60 minutes of solar irradiation, although components of natural river water may influence efficiency, highlighting the need for further optimization and post-treatment studies.
Read the full Research Article here.
Discover further research from authors related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, as part of the Sustainable Development Community Gateway.
