Urban Sanitation, Septage and Waste Water Management in Uttar Pradesh

                Providing environmentally safe sanitation to the people should be our prime aim. Government of India has under taken several measures including increased investment in urban sanitation, policy initiatives, regulations, and public campaigns to improve sanitary conditions in the country. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, launched Swachh Bharat Mission in October, 2014 with a view to eliminate open defecation and improving the sanitary conditions in urban areas. Weak sanitation has significant health costs and untreated sewage from cities is the single biggest source of water pollution in India. This indicates both the scale of the challenge ahead of the Indian cities and the huge costs incurred from not addressing them. India’s bigger cities have large, centralized sewerage systems with vast underground pipelines, pumping stations and huge treatment plants. These systems are expensive to build and even more expensive to operate, as they require continuous power, a large amount of water, skilled operators and extensive electro-mechanical maintenance. Currently on-site pit latrines, septic tanks and other such systems account for a substantial proportion of toilets in urban areas while the containment of human waste will be largely achieved under SBM, its treatment still poses a huge challenge. The absences of adequate safe and sustainable sanitation, in many Indian cities are facing the consequences, in the form of health ailments and serious pollution of water and soil resources. In contrast with the large proportion of on-site sanitation systems, limited attention has been accorded to proper construction, maintenance management and safe disposal of faecal sludge and septage from septic tanks and pit latrines. The problem of faecal sludge and septage / sewerage must be addressed in a holistic manner, with a strategy that provides for minimum needs and is appropriate and affordable for all areas and population considering the local situation.  Against this backdrop, the book purports to examine the status of urban sanitation in selected small cities of Uttar Pradesh and suggesting roadmap for improving sanitation conditions.

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