- Two billion people still lack access to safe water.
- Billions also lack sanitation and hygiene services.
- Rural and Indigenous communities are among the hardest hit.
Tuesday, September 2, 2025 — On August 26, 2025, UNICEF and the World Health Organization released a joint report during World Water Week
in Stockholm showing that billions of people still live without reliable access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. The report, Progress on Household Drinking Water and Sanitation 2000–2024: Special Focus on Inequalities, found that while some progress has been made since 2015, major gaps remain for the most vulnerable populations.
According to the findings, one in four people worldwide—about 2.1 billion people—still do not have access to safely managed drinking water. Among them, 106 million people rely on untreated water sources such as rivers and ponds. Additionally, 3.4 billion people remain without access to safely managed sanitation, and 1.7 billion lack even basic hygiene services at home.
Rural Communities and Fragile Regions.
The report highlighted stark inequalities in rural areas and fragile regions. In the world’s least developed countries, residents are more than twice as likely to go without basic drinking water or sanitation compared to people in wealthier nations. In fragile regions, safely managed drinking water coverage is nearly 40 percentage points lower than in other areas.
Some rural areas have made some gains: safe water coverage rose from 50 percent in 2015 to 60 percent in 2024. However, progress has slowed in urban centers, where coverage has stagnated.
“Water, sanitation and hygiene are not privileges, they are basic human rights,” said Dr. Ruediger Krech, Director of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization. He stressed the need to speed up efforts if the world is to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Impacts on Children and Families.
The report also underscored the impact of water shortages on children and families. UNICEF Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Cecilia Scharp, said that without reliable water, children’s health, education, and long-term opportunities are at risk. She called for bold action to ensure that the global promise of safe water and sanitation reaches those who need it most.
Parallels in the Colorado River Basin.
The challenges outlined in the global report mirror long-standing problems faced by many Native American communities in the United States, where large sections of tribal lands lack access to safe, reliable drinking water.
On the Navajo Nation, approximately 30 to 40 percent of households live without running water, forcing families to haul water from communal wells. The Hopi Tribe has faced persistent contamination of groundwater with arsenic, while the White Mountain Apache Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and Southern Ute Tribe also struggle with inadequate or failing infrastructure.
These conditions stem from decades of underfunded systems and unmet treaty obligations, leaving many families without the basic services that are considered standard elsewhere in the country. The health consequences are significant, particularly as water insecurity adds to broader inequities in rural and Indigenous communities.
A Global and Local Challenge.
The UNICEF and WHO report emphasizes that water scarcity is not confined to distant countries but is also a pressing issue close to home. As the Colorado River Basin faces historic drought and shrinking reservoirs such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell, questions of equity and infrastructure investment are gaining urgency. With just five years left before the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal deadline, the report warns that universal access to safe water and sanitation is slipping further out of reach. The findings underscore the need for stronger global and local commitments to recognize and treat water security as a fundamental human right.
