Water and Sanitation

Access to water and sanitation is, for many people in the world, a matter of daily survival. It is also a key component in trying to break the vicious circle of poverty, while creating sustainable societies for the future. This makes water governance, with regards to water and sanitation, one of the most important and urgent development issues. It is essentially a question of making sure that every person has safe water to drink and a toilet to use. But while this may sound as a straight forward advice, the reality is that achieving universal access to water and sanitation is a daunting challenge in many societies.

As of 1 May 2025, what used to be the Wash department at SIWI is transferred to IVL. The team and their work remain largely the same, as they provide expertise and develop tools to secure good water management and universal access to water and sanitation.

SIWI supports IVL and our previous colleagues in the WASH team in their continuing strive towards universal access to water and sanitation. As part of this support, you can still find much of the WASH team’s reports and other material on these pages.