Inequalities in Access to Water Supply and Sanitation Facilities—A Study in Bhubaneswar City, Odisha

Abstract

The process of urbanization is accompanied by increasing social inequalities as millions of people, largely poor, with the hope, to earn their livelihood and to support their families migrate from rural areas to urban areas. Most of the people who migrate to cities belong to marginal sections of the society. The push factors in their native places and the pull factors of the towns and cities bring them there. They are forced to live in the hard conditions, and many of them are not able to bear the cost of the basic minimum amenities such as food, drinking water supply and sanitation. Illnesses caused by unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation generate health costs that can claim a large share of income. The present paper discusses access to water supply and sanitation services in selected slums of Bhubaneswar City. The paper captures the experiences of water-borne diseases suffered by people and the kind of government and non-government interventions made to improve water supply and sanitation condition in the city. The findings suggest that the majority of the slum dwellers practised open defecation because the toilets had no water supply facilities. The basic services provided to slum dwellers are poor, irregular, inadequate and of unacceptable quality, and a marked residential difference is evident on the basis of the social composition of the migrants. The households belonging to underprivileged castes, usually with lower income, are located in spaces where very little piped water is received and for limited duration. There is no garbage collection, and drainage is poor. Thus, there is need to address this lack of basic facilities in the slums which provide basic essential services to the city dwellers.KeywordsInequalitiesSlumWater supplySanitationUrban poor