Improving Sanitation In South Asia
Need To Educate Public

SANITATION has a wide connotation. Generally, it relates to the safe disposal of human excreta, wastewater, solid waste, water supply, domestic and personal hygiene.

Problem

In many parts of South Asia, poor sanitation has contaminated subsoil water, which in turn is responsible for high morbidity, especially in regard to water-borne diseases. Dysentery, cholera, hepatitis, typhoid and other mass killer diseases are common in this region. The poor, elder people and children are main victims of these diseases. In most South Asian countries, sanitation and solid waste management are serious problems. Sewerage system, covering both conveyance and treatment, exist in 28 out of 300 class I cities in India.

No doubt, community-based systems, as demonstrated in the Orangi project in Karachi, slum improvement schemes in India and other low-cost pour-flush latrines have been promising initiatives. However, they have not scaled up.

In reality, there is complication in the operation and maintenance of sewerage in South Asia. After the introduction of sewerage in towns, the local authorities levy sewerage taxes to which there is opposition. It is because everybody has to pay regardless of having a sewer connection or not, Ironically, the maintenance cost of sewerage cannot be met through tax. However, increasing the tax rate would place it beyond the capacity of an ordinary man to pay.

Due to insufficient budget, the local authorities are unable to maintain the sewers even with cross subsidy.

Discharge of wastes and soil, insufficiency of flushing water and lack of proper cleaning and maintenance have resulted in leakage of sewers and many of them have become defunct. Adequate money spent on sewerage has thus become not beneficial.

Apart from development authorities, special purpose agencies particularly for water supply and sewerage were also established in South Asian cities. In many cases, the World Bank and other external donor agencies supported these agencies.

For improving sanitation, water and sanitation board or authorities were set up in Delhi, Dhaka, Karachi, Lahore and Statewide boards in Bihar, Kerala, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and so on.

In the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, a new law was passed to merge the numerous water organisations with the respective corporation. The constitutional amendment placed water supply and sanitation once again in the hands of the municipality.

Mumbai and Kolkata are two exceptions where the corporation still has the responsibility of handling water supply and sanitation and basic municipal functions.

In all South Asian countries, poor plastic and metal products are adequately used.

They are so short-lived that they fill up hundreds of containers every other day forcing an extra burden for the metropolis garbage managers. This problem has posed a great menace to these countries' environment.

In Nepal, about 80 per cent of the disease are due to poor sanitation. According to the sanitation report 1999/2000 prepared by the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage and UNICEF, poor sanitation is wreaking on Nepalese's health. The report states that some 28,000 children die of diarrhoea related disease every year. They die because of the lack of sanitation and clean water.
Only few districts out of Nepal's 75 districts have latrine coverage, placing the country at the bottom of the table in South Asia. This reveals that most Nepalese, especially rural people, defecate out in the open. Apart from this, washing hands after defecation and before handling food is not yet a habit with most Nepalese. This shows that an average Nepali life resides in a state of utter instantiation.
Considering the present condition, the concerned authorities should adopt a broad-based sanitation strategy with development programmes at the local level. They should emphasise on mobilisation of large number of community stakeholder.

Also, there is a need for a shift from the present centre directed sanitation programme. The shift should be in favour of local sanitation efforts, local initiatives and local leadership. Actually, it is impossible to find flaws with such work when there are already local level institutions with potentials to be agents of change. Village development committees, reported to be interested to take up the challenge of sanitation, could be such agency.

Sanitation a way of life is the quality of living that is expressed in clean homes, neighbourhood and a clean community.

Being a way of life sanitation undoubtedly must come from the people. It should be nourished by knowledge, grown as the obligations and deal in human relations.

The World Health Organisation defined sanitation as the control of all these factors in man's physical developments, health and survival.

Due to poor sanitation, water quality in most South Asian countries are adversely affected. In many parts of these countries, poor sanitation has contaminated subsoil water, which in turn is responsible for high morbidity, especially with respect to water-born diseases. Dysentry, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and other mass killer diseases are common in these countries. The poor, elder people and children are main victims of these diseases.

No doubt, development authorities in South Asia have been effortful in augmenting water supply, expanding some services and developing new urban areas over a period of time. However, they have been facing problems such as political, interferences, poor performance, lack of public accountability and so on.

It has been estimated that the per capita solid waste generation is half kilogram per day in urban areas. Actually, collection and organised disposal rarely cover the total volume with the result that indiscriminate dumping in low land, water bodies, and hill slopes is rampant. In addition, the generation of hazardous wastes from industries and hospitals adds to this complexity.

Impact

The impact of improved sanitation on health has been particularly significant in reducing morbidity and mortality from intestinal diseases and Hellenistic infections. This has been proved by developed countries where sanitation is worth appreciating. Despite continuing endeavours, improving sanitation has been a serious problem in South Asian countries. To bring about improvement in the sanitation of these countries, it is of utmost importance to educate the public in a proper manner.

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