Issues:
1. A Lack of Toilets: Nationwide, some 70% of those living in rural areas have no access to toilets, potentially leading to diseases that can turn epidemic, especially in times of disaster. Studies show marked increases in waterborne disease during yatra seasons, due to insufficient access to toilets for travelers.
2. STPs Are Expensive and Easily Overwhelmed: Sanitation schemes utilizing technologies such as sewage treatment plants (STPs)-and their corresponding miles of infrastructure-are expensive to build and difficult to maintain. They also become overwhelming during monsoon season and are disabled by frequent electrical shortages.
3. O&M Funding isn’t Adequate: STPs and public toilets are often not properly maintained due to lack of O&M funds and oversight. Many are considered obsolete and are non-functional due to a lack of maintenance and upgrades. As a result, more sewage enters our drinking water, and more people fall ill.
4. Uncapped Drains: Countless drains empty sewage directly into the Ganga, Yamuna and other drinking water sources, fouling the water for all.
Solutions:
1. Inspire a New Vision and Dream: Turning a bane into a boon, India can become a world leader for profiting from waste, instead of discarding it into Mother Ganga, Mother Yamuna and other drinking water sources. We know that sewage and other forms of waste can be converted into biofuel and fertilizer. If we scale the technology on a massive level, our pollution problems can largely be solved, and India will have a powerful new tool for the production of energy, which all other nations can emulate.
2. Strengthen Provision of Toilets Whilst Providing Educational Outreach: Efforts to provide sanitation for all residents and visitors to The Ganga River Basin should be strengthened through increased financial assistance, an intensification of community education and awareness campaigns.
3. On-Site and Local Solutions: Bio-digester toilets and other technologies which can process all waste on-site at the household, village and colony levels, should be considered as standard models for future rural and urban development and retrofitting. This would eliminate the need for expensive trunk-lines, STPs and other infrastructure.
4. Augment Electric STPs: Off-grind, on-site energy generation, through solar, wind or bio-gas production, should be explored and implemented, so that STPs remain functional at all times.
5. Increase O&M: Existing STPs and infrastructure must be upgraded and maintained with proper funding, to ensure they are always functioning. Public toilets must be similarly maintained.
6. Tap and Reroute: Drains that empty raw sewage into the Ganga and tributaries must be rerouted to sewage treatment facilities. All people, businesses or organizations that have been found to be repeatedly dumping their sewage into our rivers should be financially and technically assisted in rerouting to sewage lines or in building on-site treatment facilities. Repeat violators should be penalized.