Indicator Explorer

Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality

The indicator tracks the percentage of water bodies (rivers, lakes and groundwater) in a country with good ambient water quality. “Good” indicates an ambient water quality that does not damage ecosystem function or human health according to core ambient water quality parameter groups that are relevant globally.

The indicator is defined as the proportion of water bodies in the country that have good ambient water quality. Ambient water quality refers to natural, untreated water in rivers, lakes and groundwaters and represents a combination of natural influences together with the impacts of all anthropogenic activities. The indicator relies on water quality data derived from in situ measurements and the analysis of samples collected from surface and groundwaters. Water quality is assessed by means of core physical and chemical parameters that reflect natural water quality related to climatological and geological factors, together with major impacts on water quality. The continuous monitoring of all surface and groundwaters is economically unfeasible and not required to sufficiently characterize the status of ambient water quality in a country. Therefore, countries select river, lake and groundwater bodies that are representative and significant for the assessment and management of water quality to monitor and report on indicator 6.3.2. The quality status of individual water bodies is classified based on the compliance of the available water quality monitoring data for the core parameters with target values defined by the country. The indicator is computed as the proportion of the number of water bodies classified as having good quality (i.e. with at least 80 % compliance) to the total number of assessed water bodies, expressed as a percentage.

United Nations. UN Water SDG 6 Data Portal

Percentage (%): The proportion of the number of bodies of water with good water quality compared to the total number of assessed water bodies expressed as a percent.

Annual

The monitoring and reporting of SDG Indicator 6.3.2 requires considerable national financial and human capacities to regularly measure water quality parameters at sufficient spatial and temporal resolutions, and to consistently collect, quality-assure and process the monitoring data to compute the indicator. Substantial investments in monitoring and data management infrastructures, as well as targeted capacity development in water quality monitoring programme design and operation, will be required in many countries to enhance national capacities to regularly and consistently report on the indicator. Recognizing the differences in monitoring and data processing capacities among countries, the indicator methodology offers a progressive monitoring approach allowing countries to start with reporting based on their existing capacity and progressively enhance the data coverage and indicator significance with increasing capacity.

https://www.sdg6data.org/en

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