Health

 Biome Solutions, a Bangalore-based company working on sustainable architecture and buildings visited some flood affected areas in Guntur to observe the situation and see the suitability of applying "Ecological Sanitation", a new approach to sanitation. (Search on India Water Portal for "Ecological sanitation" for more information on this). Their report  after their travels can be seen below.

A point of interest is the picture of a flooded toilet. Pit toilets which are the norm in rural areas have the disadvantage that during floods the pit below the toilet (where the human waste accumulates over time) gets flooded and the toilet becomes unusable. The faecal matter can come out of the toilet pan and create a real mess which needs to be cleaned up. 

Read their report at: 

http://biomesolutions.blogspot.com/2009/10/visit-to-flood-affected-areas-in-guntur.html

This status report prepared by Development Alternatives contains brief background information about the Bundelkhand region, details about the physical profle (topography, drainage and river systems, land usage, climate, rainfall), water resources information (water demand, availability, supply and accessibility) and information on sanitation practices (toilets, personal  hygiene, solid waste management, liquid waste disposal, availability of water for sanitation).

 This report found on the World Health Organisation site has been brought out by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, that tracks the progress on target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which is "To halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation".

2008 being the International Year of Sanitation, the report highlights the importance of sanitation, as being the crucial stepping stone to health , which offers:

This report includes the findings of a study by the Planning Commission sponsored by the World Health Organisation and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that conducted an assessment of the water and sanitation situation in India in 2002. The assessment revealed that:

Poor sanitation and hygiene is one of the major causes of poor water quality, as  bacterial from human excreta find their way into drinking water or directly into our bodies through unclean hands.

The document was made by the Department of Drinking Water Supply, Government of India.

Global warming induces an increase in global precipitation through the augmentation of evaporation. According to the IPCC, rainfall patterns are likely to be modified with some regions becoming more arid and others experiencing more rainfall.

The GTZ Ecosan Program has developed guidelines for safe reuse of urine and feces, and publicity material to create awareness on the functioning of eco-toilets.

Government authorities and NGOs who wish to popularize the concept and its implementation can refer to this informative links for accessing IEC materials.

TSC and Ecosan's initiative to bring about sustainable sanitation in India based on technologically advanced and eco friendly approaches towards sanitation, involving NGO, Community and Individual participation. Read more

GTZ Ecosan Program (www.gtz.de/en) has compiled ecosan materials from several organisations into a CD of capacity building resource material. This CD can be downloaded from this page in its entireity.

A study published in the The Internet Journal of Third World Medicine of bacteriological quality of water samples of a tertiary care medical center campus in North Western Himalayan region, more specifically in Kangra district of Himachal Prad