Govt Policies & Interventions

KEY POINTS

·         Goal number 6 of SDG mandates to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

·         In spite of working in mission mode to expand sanitation, 87% of faecal sludge expelled from toilets in urban areas is untreated.

·         At the national scale, a United Nations report of 2015 estimates that 65,000 tonnes of untreated faeces is introduced into the environment in India annually.

·         Though, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan promised a major shift, it has focussed more on the basic requirement of household and community toilets in rural and urban areas.

·         State support for improved housing and planned development has never been strong, and the National Urban Sanitation Policy of 2008 has not changed that significantly.

·         So, it is now time for a change in strategy towards decentralised sludge management systems.

·         It entails large sewage treatment plants for riverside cities and towns, accessibility to treatment plants, etc.

·         Immediate investments in decentralised sludge management systems would bring twin benefits: of improving the environment and reducing the disease burden imposed by insanitary conditions.

Suggestions

·         Create an inter-departmental task force to identify land to build small treatment systems for sludge, and to provide easily accessible solutions to houses that are currently discharging waste into open drains.

·         The business of emptying faecal material using tanker trucks needs to be professionalised and de-stigmatised.

·         Decentralised sludge management systems are vital, if India is to achieve Goal number 6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Please review.thanks

Kindly review it. Thanks.