Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are inextricably linked to each other in a triangular relationship necessitating constant research, innovation and infrastructural development in pursuit of the 6th (of the total 17) Sustainable Development Goals. It calls for ensuring availability and sustainable management of clean water and sanitation for all by 2030. As urban sprawl races ahead of the planned urban development, planners in India will have to look for ever newer solutions to supply safe water to all households, connecting them to sanitary lines and setting up mechanisms to see that no sewage remains untreated.
Undoubtedly, it is a tall order as urbanisation is growing at a rate of 2.1% annually. By 2030, the urban population is set to grow to 590 million from the present 377 million. The challenge is snowballing every moment as 12% of the urban households still defecate in the open. The NSSO reports that only 56% of urban homes receive piped water and 33% rely on public taps or tubewells or borewells. More than 30 million urban houses get untreated water supply whereas more than 80% of the sewage remains untreated in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachchata Abhiyan has put the issues in the spotlight. It was in this context that Ministry of Urban Development initiated the Swachch Survekshan (City Cleanliness Index) in 2016. It introduced an element of competition among Urban Local Bodies to mount a cleanliness drive and focus on key areas like water and sanitation together with solid waste management.
WASH Lab
Karnataka’s cultural capital, Mysuru, which won the ‘Cleanest City of India’ tag in the first ever survey, witnessed the launch of the Innovation Hub for Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Solutions (IHUWASH) earlier this week and launch of the IHUWASH lab. The city is among the three locales (others being Udaipur in Rajasthan and Faridabad in Haryana) selected by the National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) to improve the performance of the urban WASH programmes.
Kamna Swami, National Project Manager of NIUA, setting the tone for the Hub and the workshop, said the IHUWASH project proposes to take up research issues, prepare database, look for the ways to garner municipal finance, go into land economics, take up poverty alleviation programmes in urban areas and provide affordable housing and transport and coordinate with programmes under schemes like Smart Cities, AMRUT and JNNRUM.
The IHUWASH is a collaborative initiative involving National Institute of Engineering (NIE), USAID, NIUA, TARU Leading Edge and a few other organisations. Speaking on the occasion K.H. Jagadeesh, Commissioner, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), said Mysuru was the first city in India to be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). With the livelihood of a considerable section of residents of the city linked with tourism (the city receives 3 million tourists annually), the administration has gone out of the way to see that all households had access to piped water supply and were connected to the sanitary lines. Geologically blessed, the city does not have any waterlogging spots. The MCC has tagged all the 69 public toilets with GPS-aided toilet locator app.
It is pointed out that maximising the supply of safe and potable standard water, efficient sewage and drainage system and not allowing the twain to mix, and scientific solid waste management were key areas to be addressed if the cities were to achieve high rankings in the Survekshan. But even 100% coverage of households and commercial properties under water supply and sanitation network is not likely to produce results unless the city administrations take up the information, education and behaviour change communication (IEBC) programmes for the people.
Mysuru could achieve top ranking through almost 100% door-to-door solid waste collection, enabling 99% households to access piped water and the sanitary lines. However, MCC Health Officer D.S. Nagaraju points out that there were deficient areas such as scientific disposal of waste, compliance with rainwater harvesting norms and pollution of lakes.
Use recycled water
Pundaleek Kamath from Bosch India Foundation said that businesses like construction industry could be directed to use recycled water rather than taking out groundwater through borewells. He lamented that water bodies were the end recipient of all the human excreta generated in Indian cities which, besides polluting them, have enhanced the load of bacteria that require extremely high level of anti-biotic treatment. He urged thematic research as viruses have become very stubborn and the general profile of health was declining due to sixth generation of bacteria.
Water footprint
Shashidhara K., NGO EverythingEco, pleaded for bringing down the water footprint in urban India where, he said, 90 per cent of water was being wasted. He suggested data-driven education and information programmes. Sureshbabu, Superintending Engineer, MUDA, urged disallowing digging of borewells when cent per cent households are being supplied with potable grade of water.
Urban affairs expert Jagannath wanted the research to be directed to make all technologies to be climate-resilient.
