The United Nations released its World Water Development Report “Where Water Flows, Equality Grows” in March 2026, warning that the planet faces a structural water crisis with direct consequences for the global economy, public health, and gender equality.
The report confirms that none of the targets under Sustainable Development Goal 6 will be met by 2030. The SDGs are 17 global targets the UN established in 2015 as a roadmap to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. SDG 6 specifically calls for universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
The World Economic Forum adds another alarm: by 2050, 31% of global GDP will face high water stress, making water management a critical variable for governments and businesses alike.
A system under growing pressure
The planet holds roughly 43,000 cubic kilometers of renewable freshwater per year, but that supply is under siege. Between 2010 and 2021, annual withdrawals averaged 4,000 cubic kilometers, equal to 10% of total renewable freshwater resources, while climate change intensifies seasonal and year-to-year variations in supply.
At least 4 billion people, half the world’s population, already endure severe water stress for at least one month every year. Only 56% of monitored water bodies meet the standards for good environmental quality.
Agricultural runoff is the leading source of freshwater contamination worldwide, even in high-income countries. Agriculture accounts for 72% of total water withdrawals, industry for 15%, and urban and household use for 13%.
In low-income countries, agriculture consumes up to 90% of available water. In high-income nations, that figure drops to 44%. Rapid urbanization in emerging economies is sharpening competition for water between farming and expanding cities.
One in four people worldwide lacks safely managed drinking water, and four in ten have no safe sanitation. Only 56% of domestic wastewater receives adequate treatment.
Integrated water resource management has reached 57% implementation globally, and just 59% of transboundary river basins operate under active cooperation agreements.
Progress that falls far short
Between 2015 and 2024, 961 million people gained access to safe drinking water, pushing global coverage from 68% to 74%. Another 1.2 billion obtained safe sanitation, lifting coverage from 48% to 58%.
Those gains are not enough. In 2024, 2.1 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water. Another 3.4 billion people lacked safely managed sanitation, 1.7 billion had no basic hygiene services at home, and 1.8 billion lived in households with no piped water connection.
Schools reflect the same gaps.
Globally, 23% lack basic drinking water, 22% have no basic sanitation facilities, and 33% provide no hygiene services. Closing those gaps by 2030 would require doubling water and sanitation coverage and quadrupling hygiene services in schools worldwide.
Between 2016 and 2022, more than 10 million adolescent girls ages 15 to 19 across 41 countries reported missing school or other activities during menstruation. Only two in five schools deliver menstrual health education.
Women and girls bear the heaviest burden
Women and girls handle water collection in 7 out of 10 households without a piped water supply. Girls under 15 are more likely than boys to fetch water — 7% compared to 4%. Together, women and girls spend an estimated 250 million hours every day on that task.
In 2016, girls ages 5 to 9 spent 30% more time on household chores than boys. That gap adds up to 40 million extra hours daily worldwide. In 2020, 13% of households across 21 low- and middle-income countries reported injuries linked to water collection, with women bearing the brunt. In Africa alone, closer water access could save women the equivalent of 77 million workdays per year.
The inequality extends to agriculture. Women in food and farming systems earn 18.4% less than men, according to 2023 data. In 2018, women held less than 15% of agricultural land titles. In 43 of 49 countries with available data, men owned at least twice as much farmland as women did.
The productivity gap between equally sized farms run by women versus men stood at 24% in 2023. The Food and Agriculture Organization attributes that gap to unequal access to water, technology, credit, and extension services. Women held just 17.7% of jobs at water utility companies in 2018-2019.
Governance and funding remain the weakest links
Between 2021 and 2022, women held fewer than half of water, sanitation, and hygiene positions in public administration in 79 of 109 countries, and less than 10% of those roles in nearly a quarter of them. In water sector organizations across developing countries, women represented 36% of junior staff, 38% of mid-level staff, and just 26% of leadership positions. Only 19% of river basins have set equality and inclusion goals.
The share of women leading environment ministries rose to 28% in January 2024, up from 12% in 2015. Studies show that where gender quotas apply in water governance, greater equity and sustainability in resource management follow.
Global investment in water infrastructure reached $300 billion annually in 2022, against an estimated $700 billion annual gap needed to achieve water security by 2030. Cumulative needs could reach $6.7 trillion by 2030 and $22.6 trillion by 2050. Every dollar invested in the sector yields an estimated $4.30 in benefits, including lower health costs, reduced contamination, and higher school attendance.
Official development assistance for water fell 9% between 2022 and 2023. Yet more than 30% of water-related aid projects now include gender equality targets. In 2024, 90% of investors applying a gender-lens strategy reported meeting or exceeding their financial expectations. Another 51% reported high-impact results beyond financial returns.
The WaterCredit Initiative, active from 2004, reached more than 30 million people across 13 countries through gender-focused microcredit for water access. Eighty-seven percent of beneficiaries were women.
Access and coverage in Colombia
Colombia’s water access gap between cities and rural areas is stark. National water supply coverage stands at 72%, reaching 85% in urban areas but dropping to 39% in rural zones, according to the Public Utilities Superintendency. Sanitation follows the same pattern: 82% in cities compared to just 18% in rural areas.
Rural coverage has also deteriorated. Safe water access in rural zones dropped from 73.69% in 2015 to 67% in 2021, according to the National Planning Department. More than 8 million Colombians lack continuous water service, and 1.4 million people still practice open defecation.
The most critical conditions concentrate in the departments of Choco, La Guajira, Nariño, Vichada, Amazonas and Guainia.
Continuity of service
More than 8 million Colombians lack continuous water service. While 83.8% of urban households receive water 24 hours a day, only 61.3% of rural households have full supply availability.
Since El Niño struck in early 2024, Colombia’s water supply has remained under pressure. Of the 367 municipalities affected at the time, 276 reported supply shortages and 91 reported rationing, conditions that have since exposed the fragility of rural water infrastructure across the country.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 reinforces that assessment. Extreme weather events top short-term risks, while biodiversity loss, shifts in Earth systems, and natural resource scarcity dominate the ten-year outlook. Water runs as a cross-cutting factor through every one of those scenarios.