Challenges of access to water and sanitation for sustaining health: A case study from South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Meena Sehgal,Sumit Kumar Gautam,Mayukhmala Guha,Suneel Pandey,Priyanka Bajaj

doi:10.5296/emsd.v6i1.11091

Abstract

The present study attempts to determine the access to clean water and sanitation essential for sustaining health. It attempts to identify socio-economic factors which influence access to clean water within the community. The absence of water-on- premises in a water abundant area of West Bengal, India showcases some of the challenges in progressing on Sustainable Development Goal-3.Eight villages were included in the study and a total of 597 households were enrolled for the study from 8000 households in the villages. The study includes descriptive analysis of water access and sanitation parameters, and regression analysis of socio-economic determinants of exposure. The results reveal that nearly half of the respondents belonged to Above Poverty Line (APL) while 42.71% were under Below Poverty Line (BPL). Although majority of the household had access to an improved source of water for drinking, 77.89 % of the households were using pond water for bathing, washing clothes, utensils and toilet and nearly 37% of households did not have any toilet facility. Regression analysis of use of pond water indicates that people living in mud huts (kutcha houses) and from religious minority groups were more likely to use ponds for washing utensils, clothes, bathing and defecated in open fields and use unimproved sources for drinking water. The study asserts the need to develop community level preventive measures such as access to clean water for personal and domestic use and sanitation facilities to protect health.

Highlights

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), financial expenditure on the water supply and sanitation has been 1.01% of the global GDP during 2000-2010 and this is expected to rise to 1.03% during 2020-2030 (OECD, 2009)
Half (46.23%) of the respondents belonged to Above Poverty Line (APL) category, 42.71% of the respondents were Below Poverty Line (BPL) and 4.86% respondents had Antyodaya Ration Cards
The data from the study, field observations and review of literature for nutrition and health statistics of the study area clearly warrants for investing in improving access to clean water for personal and domestic purposes and in sanitation facilities to sustain health and build the resilience of the community to associated vulnerability

Summary

Introduction

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), financial expenditure on the water supply and sanitation has been 1.01% of the global GDP during 2000-2010 and this is expected to rise to 1.03% during 2020-2030 (OECD, 2009). 54% of the people globally had access to piped water in their premises in 2010 as compared to 45% in 1990 (WHO and UNICEF, 2012). World-wide, a total of 2.3 billion people attained access to improved source of potable water during 1990-2012. The target of halving the proportion of people without access to improved sources of water was achieved (WHO and UNICEF, 2014). It was predicted that globally, 2.5 billion people would still be lacking access to improved source of water and around 784 million individuals would be short of access to safe drinking water by the year 2012. There is a need for commitment to raise the financial expenditure both locally as well as globally

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion