Toilets and Urinals

This study report by the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP), a global partnership administered by the World Bank suggests that inadequate sanitation causes India considerable economic losses, equivalent to 6.4 per cent of India's GDP in 2006 at Rs. 2.4 Trillion. It analyzed the evidence on the adverse economic impacts of inadequate sanitation, which include costs associated with death and disease, accessing and treating water, and losses in education, productivity, time, and tourism. The findings are based on 2006 figures, although a similar magnitude of losses is likely in later years.

The study focused on the safe management of human excreta and associated hygiene behavior. The methodology adopted by the study included disaggregating the economic impacts of inadequate sanitation into health-related impacts including premature deaths, costs of treating diseases, and productive time lost due to illnesses; domestic water-related impacts including household treatment of water, and money and time costs to obtain safe water; welfare losses including additional time spent by people for accessing toilets or open defecation sites, and girls having to miss school, and women not going to work; and the loss of potential tourism owing to inadequate sanitation.

Data on incidence (e.g. diarrheal diseases, deaths, etc.) were compiled from national sources (National Family Health Survey, WHO Demographic and Health Surveys, and other Govt. of India sources). Based on scientific literature, attribution factors were used to estimate the populations impacted by inadequate sanitation. Economic valuation was carried out using costs/prices based on secondary studies.

This paper presents the results of a survey of WATSAN systems implemented under an Integrated Domestic Water Management (IDWM) project supported by Arghyam and implemented by MYRADA and MYKAPS in Bangarpet and H D Kote blocks of Kolar district of Karnataka. Arghyam has promoted Roof-top Rain Water Harvesting (RRWH) and eco-sanitation systems in its various project areas through its partner organizations.

This project aimed at developing an integrated approach to domestic water management. It focused on construction of RRWH and eco-sanitation toilets in four villages in the project area in Kolar with the aim of creating models of integrated management of domestic water and sanitation in a rural set-up.

Content Courtesy: Solution Exchange and Nitya Jacob
Author: Nitya Jacob

India’s arteries are choking. Her rivers, the lifeline of hundreds of millions, are over-taxed, polluted and encroached. They are being mined, dammed and emptied of water. Save for the four monsoon months, most rivers are streams of drains, depending on how many cities they pass through. This year people gaped in awe at the River Yamuna (I am sure they were over-awed by other rivers elsewhere too) as for the first time since 1978 looked like a river and not a drain.

We often get asked about toilets— what is the difference between a VIP and an improved pit latrine? What is the actual technology that supports Ecological Sanitation? Good questions, and so we are introducing short videos on different types of toilets.

A study is now circulating about how more people in India have access to cell phones than latrines. This lit up the blogosphere and Twitter – sector professionals and advocates are both dumbfounded and outraged that something so central to health and development as a toilet is being numerically lapped by something so trivial/consumerist as a cell phone. This affront has led to yet further calls for "action": more money for toilets and greater commitments to sanitation provision from aid agencies, governments, and NGOs who too often prioritize water over sanitation.