Even as 54 per cent of India’s total population does not have access to clean and safe toilets (according to a UNICEF finding for 2008), experts have criticised the government for its ‘centralised approach’ towards sewage treatment, a critical aspect of maintaining sanitation.
“It is a matter of shame. India accounts for 58 per cent of those who practice open defecation across the world,” Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation Jairam Ramesh had recently said in a public function while talking about the findings for 2008 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
But experts have cautioned that building sanitation capacity without coupling it with decentralised treatment of sewage generated from it, will lead to an increase in many social and health problems.
3000 years needed
“Even if we put a halt to the development of the cities at this very point in time, it will take us 3000 years to put sewer lines and cover the entire country with centralised sewage treatment plants at this rate. At present, only 269 towns of the more than 7000 towns and cities in India have sewage treatment plant according to government’s own data,” Mr Pathak said, citing the Central Pollution Control Board data.
He said that he has arrived at the conclusion after analysing the rate at, which the government has constructed sewer lines in the country since the first sewer system was laid down in 1870 in Kolkata.
The Central Pollution Control Board, in its 2005 report ‘Status of sewage treatment in India’ has stated that if the issue of sewage treatment is not treated urgently, it will fast “magnify to an unmanageable level”.
The report, one of the most recent ones available, has stated that the position of sewage treatment is “dismal” in the country. Though human waste is not the only component of sewage, it forms an important component in spreading pollution to the water bodies.
Terming the substantial emphasis on centralised sewer system as faulty and impractical, Dr. Pathak said, “It is impossible to cover all the towns and cities in India with this kind of centralised sewage system. First of all, the cost of construction, for laying down sewer lines and building treatment plants is prohibitive. Such plants need enormous quantity of water for flushing. Even the cost of maintenance is very high.”
“The decentralised method of sewage treatment will not only help provide safe sanitation to millions of deprived Indians, it will also solve a very big pollution concern and provide dignity to many, apart from generating energy,” he said.
Lauded as a sanitation innovator and social reformer, Dr. Pathak has received many awards including the Stockholm Water Prize in 2009 for the “development of cost-effective and culturally appropriate toilets and related treatment systems…”
His invention Sulabh Sanitation System was recognised by the UN-Habitat as ‘Global Urban Best Practice’. The UN-Habitat has awarded him with the ‘Scroll of Honour’. The UNEP (United Nations’ Environment Programme) also awarded him with the ‘Global 500 Roll of Honour’ a few years ago.
The Sulabh Sanitation system has been built in 1.2 million homes in India till now and in 8000 public places.
“Sulabh has trained people from 15 African countries. We have also started our work in Cambodia, Laos and such other countries. I have not patented the technology so that it can be freely used anywhere in the world,” Dr. Pathak said.
“The most important part is that the waste gets disposed in-situ. Further, energy can be generated from that waste. Thus the community or a small group of families can benefit from it. Most importantly, the government will not have to bother about making arrangements for carrying and treating it,” he said.
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