PRIORITISING SANITATION
A majority of our people are living far below the minimum standards. There are many excuses. Some say that while defecating on the sea shore: a fisherman observes the wave patterns.
Perhaps. But if he does not have a toilet, he will spend about fifteen minutes to walk upto the spot and back. Wouldn't it be easier for a fisherman to shit at home for three minutes, and just walk out to the beach close-by, and observe the wave-pattern for more than ten minutes?

Or that when he is at sea, he prefers doing it over-board. True when he is away for over twelve hours. But otherwise, wouldn't he feel better to relieve himself at home, before setting out to work?

Among the factors that influence the sanitation decisions, the most important factor is of course the economic factor.  Those living below the poverty line, and those who barely have any surplus after taking care of the food needs, definitely cannot afford to spend any money or resources building toilets.

Needs and Demand
The truth is that at the individual level, people have different levels of needs for sanitation viz
  • Needs of Privacy
  • Needs of Personal Hygiene
  • Needs of Convenience, HouseholdLevel, in Public Institutions
  • Needs of Community Hygiene
  • Needs of Environment/Long term

These needs are like the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, as the base level needs are fulfilled, the next level is desired. However the main problem lies in the fact that the lack of sanitation affects adversely the entire community, in terms of health, environment. Thus providing sanitation for all becomes a community level, national level obligation and planetary necessity.


Thus the task of a solutions provider is much more complex than a narrow technical one. Our technical solutions must at least attempt to cover all levels of needs as the poor cannot be expected to think of the higher levels of need. Education and Information (as envisaged in the Total Sanitation Programme) for
the users is essential, but not sufficient. And this is where the Government's new so called "demand oriented approach" as spelt out in the latest draft plan, falls short. A toilet subsidy for BPL families will only ensure incomplete or at least sub-standard and unhygienic toilets. Even lower middle classes find it more convenient to just make a simple pit, and forget about even basic cleanliness.

There are also other factors which are cultural and ritualistic.

All these factors given below need to be taken into account when planning, and designing an appropriate system.


Cultural
  • User's profile: age, gender distribution, cultural practices, beliefs.
  • Cultural issue relating towaste handling like caste
  • Availability of water, and rituals associated with notions of contamination of water
  • Urination and defecation habits, - our people generally squat, standing or sitting urination
Resources
  • Nature of Government programmes/schemes in the district: Resources like finance, subsidy, equipment, support services being provided
  • Existing expertise on sanitation, masons
  • Agency responsible for the maintenance /skills maintenance agency
  • Open space availablewithin the individual plot
  • Extent of public land available within the site where the houses are constructed for STP

Existing Systems
  • Existing sanitation systems, neighbouring systems
  • Availability of sewage system, effluent water outlet,
  • Nature of Sewage treatment of the head, nature of wastewater treatment
  • Waste dumps and places for disposal of solid wastes

Environment
  • Proximity to wells, surface water sources, water storage sites,
  • Groundwater levels, position, undergroundwater flows
  • Nature of rain and surfacewater flowand run off
  • Type of earth/ground in terms of porosity, hard bed/Type of substrata
  • Soil type and agricultural requirements

(taken from : India Water Supply And Sanitation : Background Paper Urban Water Supply and Sanitation. www.worldban.org. February 2006. [C.eldoc1/sanitation/WorldBank_BG_Urban_20Feb06.pdf]
Sanitation as a human Right
Water and sanitation as a derived right
The right to sanitation is implicit in several covenants and conventions adopted by the United Nations since the Second World War ended in the mid-1940s:

Water and sanitation as a derived right
Sanitation As Human Rights
 

A 2007 scorecard on the MDG goals on sanitation goal is likely to be missed by 600 million people worldwide on current trends.  World Situation

WHAT ABOUT GENDER

Gender relatedness in sanitation culture

Gender affects to sanitation culture already by physical differences. Women have to use latrines more often than men due to various reasons (pregnancy, period, child care etc.) and their visits to latrines consume more time than men’s. On global scale there are though fewer latrines for women than men. In some countries there are no public latrines for women at all. [49]

In sanitation, behaviour of young children does not vary significantly between the sexes. It is common in developingcountries that when girls reach puberty they are faced with more limitations than boys and they have to    use more remote places and places further from the settlements for defecation

• defecate in groups and in most cases even after sun set
• defecate in their homes and help their mothers to take out the excreta and solid waste
• even quit school for lack of sanitation facilities.

Sanitation possibilities in schools and homes enhance equality between the sexes. Girls become equal to boys for they do not have to walk far to defecate or quit school because of absence of sanitation facilities.

 Improvements can though create new inequalities of the sexes. E.g. getting flushing and washing water and cleaning of the latrines can end up for girls’ and women’s responsibility. Many times these works are not distributed fairly between men and women even though they both use the sanitation facilities.

When planning for sanitation programs gender related factors need to be considered. This way projects become more efficient, fair and sustainable. Efficient sanitation facility is maintained and utilised. Different user groups’ needs have to be answered to ensure utilisation of the latrine facilities. It is then not about merely answering the needs of men and women, but answers to e.g. different social and religious groups’ demands on sanitation
"A Guide to Sanitation and Hygiene for Those Working in Developing Countries"  - Sari Huuhtanen and Ari Laukkanen

Sanitation: The hidden gender problem By Shaintala Narasimhan.  India together, 1st Juoly 2002.
Gender Perspectives on Ecological Sanitation: Carolyn Hannan, Ingvar Anderson www.gtz.de.
San itation & Gender: IRC International Water & Sanitation Centre.2002. www.sanicon.net.
Women dont get access to toilets by Jehangir Rashid. Civil Society Magazine. 1 Jan 2008.