Sanitation

Several concerns were raised during the discussions on the the manner in which the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was being implemented, followed by identification of steps that were needed to ensure social, technical, institutional, financial and environmental sustainability of the programme.

The discussions revealed that:

• The TSC indeed led to the mainstreaming of sanitation in India. However, more emphasis was placed on hardware targets, while social mobilisation had been largely ignored. Thus, inspite of increase in the coverage of toilets, their usage and sustainability had remained low.

Had the opportunity to attend a recent worldwide gathering on the topic of youth and social entrepreneurship, which gave much food for thought. The event was the 5th Global YES Summit, entitled “ReWork The World”.  Details of the gathering are at www.reworktheworld.org . The message there  was that we need to do something radical in order to find productive work for the vast numbers of youth coming into the workforce especially in developing nations. The new jobs cannot be of the old variety, they need to be green, sustainable jobs. In other words, we need to ‘rework the world’.  The conference was based on the premise that these new jobs will come out of social entrepreneurship.

Highlights

• India: World Bank Aid of USD 372 million for Coastal Zone & Water Supply
• India: Centre Approves National Mission on Micro Irrigation
• Chennai: 45 New Machines to Clear Clogged Sewers
• Stockholm Water Award 2010: Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority is the Winner
• Grundfos: World’s Largest Pump Manufacturer by VDMA List

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) of the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM), Govt of India was launched to cover all households with water and sanitation facilities and promote hygiene behaviour for overall improvement of health of the rural population. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were involved in scaling up the TSC to promote large scale social mobilisation to bring about behavioural change.

The Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council's (WSSCC) Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) calls for Expressions of Interest for a COUNTRY PROGRAMME MONITOR for a Sanitation and Hygiene Programme in India

WSSCC invites suitably qualified firms/organisations to express interest in the role of Country Programme Monitor (CPM) for the GSF grant programme in India. The initial contract duration is for 2 years, extendable up to 5 years upon satisfactory performance of services.

Some recent news items from the news feed that India Water Portal maintains at Newsrack: (http://newsrack.in/stories/arghyam/Water/55) :

• Six sewage treatment plants coming up in tsunami-affected areas of Nagapattinam, TN : http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/31/stories/2010053157650600.htm

This discussion paper by ADB, examines the current state of sanitation in India in the context of the Millennium Developmental Goals, which call for a 50% reduction in the proportion of people without sanitation by 2015 and India's goal of providing Sanitation for All by the 2012.

The paper targets policy makers, governmental ministries, state and local governments, non-governmental organisations, developmental agencies and all those who are involved in the planning and implementation of sanitation policies in India. It makes a few recommendations for the successful implementation of sanitation efforts in India.The focus of these recommendations is on household sanitation, which includes safe disposal of human excreta, as measured by household ownership of a sanitary latrine and household access to drainage facilities.

This document by Water for People, emphasises the importance of appropriate sanitation coverage in schools that is gender sensitive and culturally acceptable to the needs of both boys and girl students, rather than the exclusive focus on adequacy of facilities.

It discusses the case of schools in rural areas in West Bengal where it was found that although the coverage of sanitation facilities was reasonable, lack of adequate availability of water, lack of consideration to student differences in terms of age and gender in the construction of latrines and drinking water facilities, poor systems of maintainence and disposal of wastes made the sanitation facilities inappropriate for use.

In order to get a sense of the current status of sanitation in India's cities, a survey was initiated by the Ministry of Urban Development as a part of the National Rating and Award Scheme for Sanitation for Indian Cities. The methods used for the survey can be found on the Ministry of Urban Development website.

The findings and the rankings of the cities according to the survey found that the situation was grim with only 25 cities topping the list, while majority of the others lagged behind in terms of a number of sanitation parameters.