A Snapshot of the World’s Water Quality: Towards a Global Assessment

Good water quality, together with an adequate quantity of water, are necessary for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for health, food security and water security. Therefore, it is of concern that water pollution has worsened since the 1990s in the majority of rivers in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It is important that actions to protect and restore water quality are linked to efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post 2015 Development Agenda. Severe pathogen pollution already affects around one-third of all river stretches in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In addition to the health risk of drinking contaminated water, many people are also at risk of disease by coming into contact with polluted surface waters for bathing, clothes cleaning and other household activities. The number of rural people at risk in this way may range into the hundreds of millions on these continents. Severe organic pollution already affects around one-seventh of all river stretches in Latin America, Africa and Asia and is of concern to the state of the freshwater fishery and therefore to food security and livelihoods.