Support to National Urban Sanitation policy (SNUSP) - II

Context

In India, the number of towns and cities with over 5,000 inhabitants has grown by around 50 per cent during the past decade and now stands at almost 8,000. These are home to 31 per cent of the total population. This continuing trend means that half of the Indian population will be living in urban areas by 2030. The development of infrastructure and services for the water supply and wastewater management systems has been unable to keep pace with this population growth. Consequently, only around 10 per cent of all towns and cities have a sewerage network; even then, these systems serve only parts of the town or city. This means that a large proportion of wastewater does not even reach sewage treatment facilities, many of which are faulty, insufficiently dimensioned and poorly operated and maintained. The untreated wastewater flows directly into surface water and groundwater and pollutes them.

With the National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP), India's Ministry for Urban Development launched comprehensive reforms for municipal wastewater management and the improvement of sanitation in 2008. This sector continues to be a focus of the Government and has been receiving increased attention since the national elections in 2014.

Despite the enabling political conditions, the city administrations lack the expertise required to plan and provide the necessary infrastructure and services properly.

Objective

Indian states and their towns and cities are taking effective measures to combat the introduction of untreated wastewater into surface water and groundwater.

Approach

The project builds on the lessons learned from an earlier project in five cities in conjunction with three state governments and applies these existing solutions to other states and cities.

At national level, the project is working together with the Ministry for Urban Development and training institutes. At state level, it is cooperating with selected state governments and training institutes and, at local level, it is cooperating with medium-sized cities, their administrations and elected representatives. This three-tier approach makes local solutions replicable, enables them to have a broad impact and promotes the vertical exchange of knowledge.

The project supplies sanitation strategies and implementation plans developed by states and cities to its partners at the ministry, which make them available to other parts of the country. Together with its partners, the project prepares and disseminates guidelines for overall urban sanitation plans for medium-sized cities, quality criteria for investment projects and manuals for technical solutions.

The project passes on the experiences of the five pilot cities to the responsible offices at state level to enable them to support their own towns and cities in developing and executing urban sanitation plans. The areas covered include systems for managing faecal sludge, operating models for public toilets that are suitable for women and systems for decentralised wastewater treatment.

The project, three state governments and a national training institute are collaborating directly with selected medium-sized cities. Among other activities, the partners are devising a training programme for the decision-makers and technical personnel of these cities, which focuses on developing and implementing sanitation plans. The long-term aim is for regional training institutions to adopt and offer these modules.