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Review
. 2021 Feb 15:280:111656.
doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111656. Epub 2020 Dec 7.

Moving up the On-Site Sanitation ladder in urban India through better systems and standards

Shubhagato Dasgupta  1 , Neha Agarwal  2 , Anindita Mukherjee  3
Affiliations
Review

Moving up the On-Site Sanitation ladder in urban India through better systems and standards

Shubhagato Dasgupta et al. J Environ Manage. .

Abstract

Wastewater management predominantly takes the form of On-Site Sanitation (OSS) in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). In India, households construct and operate OSS systems in the absence of regulatory oversight and seldom in compliance with the national technical standards - posing a risk to water sources and public health. The present paper reviews novel evidence on the quality of these systems from a multi-state survey of 3000 households in India to identify policy and practice interventions for creating sustainable urban sanitation futures. The paper argues for local and national governments to unlock the potential of OSS as a safe and long-term wastewater management solution through (1) re-envisioning the system design to simultaneously meet household and environmental needs, (2) fostering prefabrication of systems as a means to distribute the compliance responsibility optimally, and (3) updating technical standards for facilitating such a paradigm shift.

Keywords: India; On-site Sanitation; Prefabrication; Public health; Regulation; Septic tanks; Standards; Water pollution.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Dependence on different types of toilet facilities between 2011 and 2017 among low income, lower middle income, upper middle income, and high-income countries.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Septic tanks exhibit deviation from the governing standard in all key aspects resulting in their significant non-compliance and variation on-ground. About half the septic tanks are more than 12,000 L in volume.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
City-level density of OSS systems (septic tanks and leaching pits) in urban India (each point represents an individual city/town).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
A proposed framework for reorganising OSS system-related roles and responsibilities among the various stakeholders.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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