Overview

Every year we say hello to the monsoon in most parts of India. This is the time of year when everyone wakes up and begins frying everything in sight to eat at home while sipping hot tea or hot chocolate. It's that time of year when everyone transforms into a poet.

Also, it's that time of year that our farmers look forward to all year. This is the time of year that determines whether our farmers will be able to support themselves and their families the following year. And it's that time of year when infrastructure in Indian cities begins to deteriorate. It's that time of year when the roads turn into swimming pools, traffic jams occur, and walking anywhere requires swimming or wading.

Also, this is the time of year when we realize how clogged and blocked our drains and sewers are, as all of the trash and plastic waste we've been dumping all year comes swimming back out. And it's that time of year again, when we expect sanitation workers to jump into clogged sewers and unclog them with their bare hands while standing in waist-deep, chest-deep, or even head-deep sewage.

What are the harmful effects of untreated waste?

Cholera, typhoid, and dysentery are among the life-threatening human pathogens carried by sewage. Schistosomiasis, hepatitis A, intestinal nematode infections, and a variety of other diseases have been linked to sewage contamination of water. According to the World Health Organization, unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene cause 1.5 million preventable deaths each year. These are mostly young children who have died.

And, while we do need vastly improved civic sense from each and every one of us to ensure better waste management, and while we do need civic bodies and governments to do a better job with our infrastructure, we also desperately need to ensure that all sewage is scientifically treated. Because raw sewage is wreaking havoc on our environment and health. In fact, sewage is responsible for more than 75% of surface water contamination in India. Even those reserves are polluted due to untreated waste leaching into groundwater.

Less than half of India's urban households are connected to a sewerage system, which means that their waste is discharged directly into bodies of water without any treatment.

Building new sewage lines is not the solution because the logistical issues involved are nearly impossible to resolve, particularly in Indian cities where infrastructure is constantly struggling to meet existing needs. We require improved waste management, particularly for domestic wastewater.

Currently, all of our garbage ends up in our water bodies, by the roadside, or, in some cases, clogging landfills. In every case, this waste ends up in our lakes and rivers, where it is washed into our seas.

In some cases, untreated wastewater is discharged into drains adjacent to rivers or lakes, where it is then used for irrigation. Pathogens, toxic chemicals, and other undesirable entities are transferred to our soil, plants, and marine life, and then end up in our food chain, affecting not only our health but also posing a generational health challenge.

Apart from the obvious dangers that untreated sewage poses to public health, there is also the ongoing threat that it poses to our environment. Untreated or partially treated wastewater contaminates our rivers, lakes, streams, ground water, and other bodies of water, rendering them unsafe and unfit for consumption. When this same water is used for agriculture, pathogens and toxic chemicals are transferred to the soil and plants, contaminating our food even before it begins to grow. Our oceans are also not immune to the effects of sewage, with a large amount of untreated sewage eventually ending up there and contaminating aquatic life and marine ecosystems.

The solutions

The “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan” has centeredon the construction of toilets and the reduction of open defecation, both noble and lofty goals. Building toilets, on the other hand, will not solve the problem unless the underlying infrastructure can ensure that all waste is treated and disposed of scientifically without harming the environment. And, at a time when most of the world's cities – including Indian cities – are suffering from a water crisis, it is even more critical that we not only preserve our water but also protect it from contamination, especially in situations where it can be easily avoided.

And the solution isn't one-dimensional either. However, it all starts with ensuring that all waste is processed on-site. Waste segregation, while mandated by most civic bodies, is not yet ingrained in our individual DNA.

This must change!

Recyclable waste must be recycled to keep our landfills from becoming overburdened. Everyone should start composting at home so that organic waste does not end up in our sewers. Homes, housing societies, business parks, public sanitation facilities, and any other location with a septic tank must use biological remediation to treat the septic tank. Not only will this reduce sludge buildup and help break down waste into simpler – even usable – components, preventing toxic chemicals from leaching into our environment, but it will also ensure that no more lives are lost in the process of cleaning up our waste.

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