Preface to Transitioning to Clean Water and Sanitation

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is dedicated to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and this illustrates the vital role of the sector for a brighter future. The COVID-19 pandemics has further exacerbated the challenges to achieve the SDGs and is compounding with the climate change already important effects on all natural and human systems. The latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations’ Children and Women Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, released in 2021, highlights that achieving SDG WASH targets by 2030 will require a quadrupling of current rates of progress. To get the needed level of action to achieve the goals requires that WASH sector undertakes an effective transition and transformation. This special book on Transitioning to Clean Water and Sanitation presents selected contributing papers on transitioning and transformation in situations and cases from Europe (Spain), Oceania (Australia), Africa (Zambia) and Asia (Nepal). The case studies go through several dimensions that include the challenges in the use of non-conventional water resources, the control of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions by water utilities, the management of climate change effects on water and sanitation systems and the importance of justice systems in the frame of water contamination by mining industries.