From the archives: Open drains drain health.
A study finds that majority of the poor in India are likely to have open drains or no drainage systems to convey and treat their waste flows, threatening their health.
The complete removal of faecal contamination from the household environment is crucial for improving WASH outcomes. India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the Jal Jeevan Mission have made significant progress with 86 percent of households having a working tap connection and households without a toilet below 18 percent.
Inspite of these impressive gains, what happens to the wastewater generated from the toilets and whether it reaches the treatment facilities to prevent faecal contamination and threats to health continues to be less studied argues this paper titled ‘Examining geographic variation in the prevalence of household drainage types across India in 2019-2021’ published in npj Clean Water.
