“Even as the United Nations has launched a global campaign called ‘Be the Change’ to mark the World Water Day, India is already showcasing real action on the ground. It is already holding up a picture of how big change is possible. And this is evident in the way states like Uttar Pradesh are tackling the challenge of providing sustainable and inclusive sanitation and water for all,” said Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), while speaking at a national workshop organised in Lucknow on Wednesday, to mark the World Water Day.
The two-day workshop (March 21-22) was jointly organised by CSE, the department of urban development of the government of Uttar Pradesh and Swachh Bharat Mission)
Speaking on the occasion, Arvind Kumar Sharma, minister of urban development, Uttar Pradesh, said: “The World Water Day and our deliberations and discussions on this day are important because we are living today in a time of great crisis in terms of water – a crisis of availability and access, of quality, of lack of sanitation and proper wastewater management, and upsetting of the water cycle due to climate change.”
Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, who addressed the workshop as well, said: “There is no ‘waste’ water – we only have ‘used’ water. Reduce, reuse and recycle should be the mantra of our life. We need to treat and reuse all water. Since 2014, India has remained committed and on course to a paradigm change in water and sanitation management – sanitation is a public movement in our country today.”
Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state of India; 95 per cent of its cities and towns are totally dependent on non-sewered sanitation systems. Only 31 towns (out of the 734 in the state) have partial sewerage systems that manage to treat just 40 per cent of the sewage generated.
Says Depinder Kapur from CSE: “This is the reason why sustainable and inclusive scientific management of faecal sludge and septage is a priority for UP. The state’s poor are largely dependent on on-site sanitation systems — therefore, providing an effective and affordable septage management system will generate significant social, environmental and public health outcomes.”
According to Subrata Chakraborty, senior programme manager-water, CSE, “Uttar Pradesh has been moving ahead towards its goal of promoting inclusive sanitation for all. A septage management policy is in place, 59 towns and cities have set up treatment systems, and with the support provided by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the towns of Bijnor and Chunar now have fully functional faecal sludge and co-treatment systems in place.”
On this occasion, CSE released a series of reports based on ground studies on water and sanitation management in Uttar Pradesh (the reports can be downloaded free from www.cseindia.org).
