The potential for atmospheric water harvesting to accelerate household access to safe water

Abstract

With Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG-6), member states of the UN declared their ambition for universal access to safely managed water, recognising this as fundamental to human health, wellbeing, socioeconomic development, and gender equity. Through the support of expert groups, the UN defined safely managed water as a continuous supply of uncontaminated water delivered directly to every household worldwide. Currently, 2·2 billion people (primarily in low-income and middle-income countries [LMICs]) do not have this level of water service; globally, 200 million hours are spent collecting water from locations beyond the household plot each year, mostly by women and girls.2 The appendix (p 1) provides further reading on water policy and services in low-income settings.