City-wide inclusive sanitation: planning for an integrated sewerage system

Abstract

As cities and towns rapidly develop, increasing population and urbanization lead to more stress on the urban infrastructure. This densification of outer areas presents a complex sanitation challenge. The core or old city and periphery often have different sanitation practices, making a single management approach difficult. Further complicating matters, the city's diverse socio-economic background means lower-income households may lack the resources to build or maintain sanitation infrastructure and be excluded from municipal sanitation services. Most Class 1 cities in India rely on a combination of sanitation management systems, adding another layer of complexity. This increases the thrust in these areas and due to the lack of administrative attention and planning in these areas, it leads to informal infrastructure development which results in many social and environmental issues. Issues include sanitation and solid waste management, as there is no systematic procedure for the management of the waste, so people living in these areas come up with their management methods like discharging wastewater in open drains, open defecation, and littering waste in open fields, etc which results in various environmental consequences like contamination of land and water bodies, health issues, etc. The challenges for an enhanced urban sanitation program include rapid urbanization, population expansion, and limited familiarity with effective on-site sanitation and faecal sludge management services. According to the Census of India 2011, about 47 percent of urban India’s households have a toilet at home, and about 49.84 percent practice open defecation. Nearly 60 million individuals residing in urban areas lack adequate sanitation, and over two-thirds of wastewater is discharged untreated, contaminating land and water bodies. The 2011 Census of India reveals that 18.6 percent of households lack proper latrine facilities, with 49.8 percent resorting to open defecation. “CWIS is an evolving concept to meet the sanitation challenges in the world’s growing urban areas more effectively, it builds on current sanitation technologies and practices to achieve more comprehensive, effective, and sustainable sanitation services”. “CWIS comprises four elements—capable institutions, safety and reliability, equity and inclusion, and sustainability—with associated actions to achieve the desired outcome.” The study investigates the efficacy of the sanitation system based on the CWIS approach in the context of the study area which is a rapidly growing class 1 city Adityapur in Jharkhand. With rapid urbanization and increasing pressure on existing sanitation systems, the city faces the challenge of implementing inclusive and sustainable solutions to address sanitation needs effectively. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data analysis with qualitative interviews and field observations, to assess the current state of sanitation infrastructure, community engagement, and policy frameworks in the study area. Furthermore, it evaluates the proposed sewerage project's alignment with principles of inclusivity, governance, sustainability, and social equity based on some indicators derived from the literature review. The study comprises both quantitative data and qualitative interviews to assess the current sanitation status and the proposed sewerage project. This includes Census data table HL 08, data from primary household surveys, reports, and various interviews. The study tries to come up with the present gaps in sanitation and the issues of the proposed sewerage system. The expected outcome of the study will try to give a framework for assessing the sanitation management system based on the CWIS approach and propose some interventions for solving the present sanitation issues in class 1 cities. The framework will not only help in assessing the CWIS approach in the proposed sanitation projects in the city but will also be used for other class 1 cities to assess the proposals. The study will also propose some interventions that will act as a supplement to the proposed sewerage system for the study area and will fill the gaps for attaining city-wide inclusive sanitation.