Why Business as Usual Will Not Achieve SDG6 in LAC: The Promise of Wastewater Reuse, Green Infrastructure and Small Business around WASH: Conclusions from World Water Week 2016

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Date
Jul 2017
As part of World Water Week (WWW) held in Stockholm in August 2016, the IDB organized, in coordination with several partners, a set of three sessions (referred to as “Eye on LAC”) highlighting the new challenges accompanying SDG6 targets for the region. These sessions discussed three key strategies for addressing those challenges effectively: 1. The need for circular economic models in the WASH sector, and the role that treated wastewater reuse could play in helping countries and cities increase their water security; 2. The need for “Green” WASH service infrastructure as a complement and/or alternative to “grey” infrastructure, and the role it could play in increasing water security and reducing investment needs;
3. The need for increased business and private sector participation around WASH services, and the role private sector actors could play in filling gaps that government financing and service delivery models cannot meet. This paper summarizes the discussions, findings and conclusions reached from those WWW sessions, and provides recommendations on how the non-conventional strategies highlighted in those sessions will help the region meet SDG6 by 2030.