5. How to accelerate ambient water quality improvements
This chapter highlights the key challenges identified during the 2020 data drive and suggests solutions framed around the Decade of Action and the five accelerators of the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework (see chapter 1). It also highlights the activities already under way and how the findings from this data drive can fuel further acceleration by identifying mechanisms and entry points for effective action. The increased level of reporting and engagement with countries during the 2020 data drive was a strong positive development. During the first baseline data drive of 2017, useful information was provided by the 39 countries that reported, but the number of submissions was insufficient to draw many substantial conclusions, and the 2018 indicator progress report (UN-Water, 2018a) focused on how to increase submission rates and improve the methodology. Since then, in-depth engagement and provision of improved support mechanisms has resulted in more than a 100 per cent increase in the rate of qualityassured submissions received (89 in 2020 compared with 39 in 2017). These extra submissions have added substantially to the global water quality picture, and the increased level of engagement with countries that were both able and unable to report has elevated the profile of water quality in the River meandering through farmland. USA. By B Brown on Shutterstock
global consciousness. Nevertheless, further acceleration is needed if SDG 6 is to be achieved by 2030.
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PROGRESS ON AMBIENT WATER QUALITY - 2021
