Sanitation Scenario in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh

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Abstract

Excreta and wastewater contain high concentrations of pathogens. Poor excreta and wastewater handling and disposal leads to excreted pathogens entering the environment. This coupled with lack of adequate personal and domestic hygiene; in-sanitary conditions at community level and discharge of untreated wastewater pose high risk to human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.2 million people die annually from diarrheal diseases and that 10 percent of the population of the developing world are severely infected with intestinal worms related to improper waste and excreta management (WHO 2000). Improving access to sanitation facilities and management of liquid waste continues to be a major challenge for all ULBs in India. According to census 2001, about 285 million people (54.79 million households) lived in urban areas. Nearly 26 percent of these households lacked access to sanitation facilities (and most were forced to defecate in the open). In the same year, 32 percent of 2.79 million urban households in Madhya Pradesh lacked access to sanitation facilities. Madhya Pradesh, popularly referred as the heartland of lndia, has 338 urban centers (GOMP, 2007). In 2001, the level of urbanization (at about 27 percent) in the state was comparable with the national urbanization level (28 percent). More than a third of the state's urban population lives in 9 major cities of the state. According to GOMP (2007), in 1991, only about 45 percent urban households had access to all three facilities of water, sanitation and electricity. By 2001, this proportion went up to about 62 percent. Though this is a significant progress, there is still a long way to achieve universal access. Nearly 12 percent urban households lack access to safe drinking water. The status of urban sanitation is abysmal with only about 53 percent households reporting access to improved sanitation facilities. Among the rest, 15 percent access 'other' latrines and a large proportion of households (32 percent) lacked access to sanitation facilities. Thus, improving access to improved sanitation facilities continues to be a major challenge despite more than two decades of focus and attention to the sector.