Achieving Universal Access to Water and Sanitation by 2030: The Role of Blended Finance

A substantial increase in sector financing will be necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 calling for universal access to safe water and sanitation while addressing issues of water quality and scarcity to balance the needs of households, agriculture, industry, energy, and the environment over the next 15 years. Recent estimates by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) indicate that the present value of the additional investment in WSS alone needed through 2030 will exceed US$1.7 trillion (Hutton & Varughese 2016). Existing funding falls far short of this amount; countries may have to increase their investment in the water and sanitation sectors by up to four times in order to meet the SDGs. Where is Financing for the Water SDG Going to Come From?