Providing clean drinking water and

proper sanitation facility to all

Introduction Environmental sanitation envisages promotion of health of the community by providing clean environment and breaking the cycle of disease. It depends on various factors that include hygiene status of the people, types of resources available, innovative and appropriate technologies according to the requirement of the community, socioeconomic development of the country, cultural factors related to environmental sanitation, political commitment, capacity building of the concerned sectors, social factors including behavioral pattern of the community, legislative measures adopted, and others. India is still lagging far behind many countries in the field of environmental sanitation. The unsanitary conditions are appalling in India and need a great sanitary awakening similar to what took place in London in the mid-19th century. Improvement in sanitation requires newer strategies and targeted interventions with follow-up evaluation. The need of the hour is to identify the existing system of environmental sanitation with respect to its structure and functioning and to prioritize the control strategies according to the need of the country. These priorities are particularly important because of issue of water constraints, environment-related health problems, rapid population growth, inequitable distribution of water resources, issues related to administrative problems, urbanization and industrialization, migration of population, and rapid economic growth.

In 2008, 88% of the population in India had access to an improved water source, but only 31% had access to improved sanitation. In rural areas, where 72% of India’s

population lives, the respective shares are 84% for water and only 21% for sanitation. In urban areas, 96% had access to an improved water source and 54% to improved

sanitation. Access has improved substantially since 1990 when it was estimated to stand at 72% for water and 18% for sanitation.

In 2010, the UN estimated based on Indian statistics that 626 million people practice open defecation. In June 2012 Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh stated India

is the worlds largest "open air toilet". He also remarked that Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have better sanitation records. According to Indian norms, access to

improved water supply exists if at least 40 liters/capita/day of safe drinking water are provided within a distance of 1.6 km or 100 meter of elevation difference, to be relaxed as

per field conditions. There should be at least one pump per 250 persons.

India Water Availability

India Water Status

Area of water resource CONTAMINATED

Challenges 1.Prevention of contamination of water in distribution systems, 2.Growing water scarcity and the potential for water reuse and conservation, 3.Implementing innovative low-cost sanitation system 4.Providing sustainable water supplies and sanitation for urban and semiurban areas 5.Reducing disparities within the regions in the country 6.Sustainability of water and sanitation services. The public health challenge inherent in meeting the MDG targets is ensuring that improvements result in access to water and sanitation for the critical at-risk populations. Innovative approaches are required to ensure the availability of low-cost, simple, and locally acceptable water and sanitation interventions and integrating these approaches into existing social institutions such as schools, markets, and health facilities.

INTERVENTION STRATEGIES

๐The agriculture sector accounts for between 90 and 95% of surface and ground water in India, while industry and the domestic sector account for the remaining. ๐ On the water resources management front, the National Water Policy, 2002 recognizes the need for well-developed information systems at the national and state levels, places strong emphasis on nonconventional methods for utilization such as interbrain transfers, artificial recharge, desalination of brackish or sea water, as well as traditional water conservation practices such as rainwater harvesting, etc., to increase utilizable water resources. ๐ Water resources also advocates watershed management through extensive soil conservation, catchment area treatment, preservation of forests, and increasing forest cover and the construction of check dams. ๐The policy also recognizes the potential need to reorganize and reorient institutional arrangements for the sector and emphasizes the need to maintain existing infrastructure. ๐ Water resources is important to reiterate the need for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation [RWSS] and Urban Water Supply and Sanitation [UWSS] agencies to operate hand-in-hand with their health and education counterparts to jointly monitor indicators of RWSS, UWSS, health, education, poverty, and equity in order to make significant headway in the respective sectors. ๐Existing health promotion and education programmes should be made more effective and geared toward achieving behavior changes needed to improve hygiene.

Urban Sanitation

° Percent of urban population without proper sanitation in India is 63%. ° Although investment in water supply and sanitation is likely to see a jump of 21% in the 11th plan over the 10th plan, the targets do not take into account both the quality of water being provided, or the sustainability of systems being put in place. ° Increasing emphasis on use of information technology applications in urban governance and management to ensure quick access to information, planning, and decision support systems are the primary concern areas related to environmental sanitation. ° Solid waste management is also increasingly seen as an important area in UWSS. Legislation on municipal waste handling and management has been passed in October 2000. ° Some strategies on solid waste management include preparation of town-wise master plans, training of municipal staff, IEC and awareness generation, involvement of community-based and nongovernmental organizations, setting up and operation of compost plants via NGOs and the private sector, enhancement of the capacities of some state structures such as State Compost Development Corporations with emphasis on commercial operations and private sector involvement. ° Variations in housing type, density and settlement layout, poverty status, and access to networked services will lead to different solutions for sanitation in different parts of the city or within the same neighborhood.

Existing policies and regulations • The responsibility for water supply and sanitation at the central and state level is shared by various Ministries. At the central level three Ministries have responsibilities in the sector: • The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (until 2011 the Department of Drinking Water Supply in the Ministry of Rural Development) is responsible for rural water supply and sanitation; The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and the Ministry of Urban Development share the responsibility for urban water supply and sanitation. • National Urban Sanitation Policy: In November 2008 the government of India launched a national urban sanitation policy with the goal of creating what it calls "totally sanitized cities" that are open-defecation free, safely collect and treat all their wastewater, eliminate manual scavenging and collect and dispose solid waste safely. •As of 2010, 12 states were in the process of elaborating or had completed state sanitation strategies on the basis of the policy. 120 cities are in the process of preparing city sanitation plans. • About 40% of the cities were in the "red category" (in need of immediate remedial action), more than 50% were in the "black category" (needing considerable improvement) and only a handful of cities were in the "blue category" (recovering). Not a single city was included in the "green category" (healthy and clean city).

Budgets Allotted Before

Water and sewer tariffs • In India are low in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas they were set at the equivalent of about US$0.10 per cubic meter in 2007 and recovered about 60% of operating and maintenance costs, with large differences between cities. • In rural areas the level of cost recovery often is even lower than in urban areas and was estimated at only 20% in rural Punjab. Subsidies were estimated at US$1.1 billion per year in the mid-1990s, accounting to 4% of all government subsidies in India. 70% of those benefiting from the subsidies are not poor. • According to the results of a Service Level Benchmarking (SLB) Program carried out by the Ministry of Urban Development in 2006 in 28 cities, the share of metering was 50 percent. •According to a 1999 survey of 300 cities about 62% of urban water customers in metropolitan areas and 50% in smaller cities are metered (average 55%). Users of stand posts receive water free of charge. • A 2007 study of 20 cities by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed that only 25% of customers of these utilities were metered. Most other customers paid a flat tariff independent of consumption. Some utilities, such as the one serving Kolkata, actually do not bill residential users at all.

Conclusion

Implementation of low-cost sanitation system with lower subsidies, greater household involvement, range of technology choices, options for sanitary complexes for women, rural drainage systems, IEC and awareness building, involvement of NGOs and local groups, availability of finance, human resource development, and emphasis on school sanitation are the important areas to be considered. Also appropriate forms of private participation and public private partnerships, evolution of a sound sector policy in Indian context, and emphasis on sustainability with political commitment are prerequisites to bring the change.