All Indian cities and towns become totally sanitized, healthy and livable and ensure and sustain good public health and environmental outcomes for all their citizens with a special focus on hygienic and affordable sanitation facilities for the urban poor and women.
Background
Sanitation is defined as safe management of human excreta, including its safe confinement treatment, disposal and associated hygiene-related practices. While this policy pertains to management of human excreta and associated public health and environmental impacts, it is recognized that integral solutions need to take account of other elements of environmental sanitation, i.e. solid waste management; generation of industrial and other specialized / hazardous wastes; drainage; as also the management of drinking water supply.
Need for Action
According to Census 2001, 27.8% of Indians, i.e. 286 million people or 55 million households live in urban areas1 – projections indicate that the urban population would have grown to 331 million people by 2007 and to 368 million by 2012. 12.04 million (7.87 %) Urban households do not have access to latrines and defecate in the open. 5.48 million (8.13%) Urban households use community latrines and 13.4 million households (19.49%) use shared latrines. 12.47 million (18.5%) households do not have access to a drainage network. 26.83 million (39.8%) households are connected to open drains. The status in respect of the urban poor is even worse. The percentage of notified and non-notified slums without latrines is 17 percent and 51 percent respectively. In respect of septic latrines the availability is 66 percent and 35 percent. In respect of underground sewerage, the availability is 30 percent and 15 percent respectively. More than 37% of the total human excreta generated in urban India, is unsafely disposed. This imposes significant public health and environmental costs to urban areas that contribute more than 60% of the country’s GDP. Impacts of poor sanitation are especially significant for the urban poor (22% of total urban population), women, children and the elderly. The loss due to diseases caused by poor sanitation for children under 14 years alone in urban areas amounts to Rs. 500 Crores at 2001 prices (Planning Commission-United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), 2006). Inadequate discharge of untreated domestic/municipal wastewater has resulted in contamination of 75 percent of all surface water across India.
Goal by 2015
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) enjoin upon the signatory nations to extend access to improved sanitation to at least half the urban population by 2015, and 100% access by 2025. This implies extending coverage to households without improved sanitation, and providing proper sanitation facilities in public places to make cities open defecation free.
REF: MoUD, GOI
REF: MoUD, GOI
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