Poor sanitation in Mumbai

lakshmi on December 28th, 2020

The latest NFHS 5 data shows that the sanitation levels of Mumbai are very low compared to many cities in India. It is discouraging to see the city of Mumbai which has one of the cities hit with the COVID 19 pandemic. With onset of the pandemic we are all concerned with the sanitation aspects but this has to be an ongoing process.

While comparing the sanitation facilities in some cities in India from NFHS 5 survey we can see that the sanitation facilities in Mumbai. While there is an improvement from 40.2 per cent to 58.6, the proportion is very low compared to other cities. For all the other cities taken here, the proportion of households with sanitation levels of more than 80 percent. All the cities taken here have high proportion of households with drinking water facilities. One of the #SDGs put forward by United Nations, which all nations have to achieve by 2030 is access to affordable drinking water facilities to all.

Proportion of households with sanitation facilities

Cities	NFHS 4	NFHS 5
Mumbai	40	58.6
Banglore	88.4	90.4
Hyderabad	72.6	84.4
Kolkatta	100	99.3
Ernakulam	99.3	99.3

Source: NFHS reports

SDG 6.2 says that ‘access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, pay special attention to the needs of women and girls and of those in vulnerable situations.’ While many cities in our country are achieving the drinking water and sanitation facility targets, it is discouraging to see the city of Mumbai which has one of the cities hit with the COVID 19 pandemic. With onset of the pandemic we are all concerned with the sanitation aspects but this has to be an ongoing process. It is a well known fact that Mumbai has slums and there are overused and not maintained toilets in these areas.
It is also a surprise that Brinhanmumbai Municipal (BMC), the richest civic body in India, is low in its sanitation aspects.