Urban water management: Can UN SDG 6 be met within the Planetary Boundaries?

Abstract Water is key to keeping urban areas safe and healthy for humans and hence safe sanitation and waste water treatment is promoted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We show that emissions from existing state-of-the-art water technologies are problematic from a Planetary Boundaries (PBs) perspective. The magnitude of the climate change impact in relation to the PB based normalization is much higher than for any other PB. The current paradigm for urban water management needs a radical change for society to be served while emissions are reduced to a level that complies with the Planetary Boundaries.