Find out about what IRC is doing and what is going on in the world of water, sanitation and hygiene. Use the filters to narrow down your search.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/35922061] The high incidence of open defecation in the Indian state of Bihar is not due to a lack awareness about toilets, according to this new Water for People video . In their view, it's more of a supply chain, marketing problem. The toilets on offer are not particularly... Read more...
Queuing for the Gents in Mumbai. Photo: Hindustan Times A slum resident from Mahim in Mumbai ended up killing his neighbour whom he felt had taken too long in a public toilet. Locals feel the tragic death could have been avoided if only the civic authorities had provided sufficient public toilets... Read more...
In India, though considerable investments are made through the Total Sanitation Campaign (flagship program of Govt of India) the ground realities of sanitation facilities are very poor and alarmingly dangerous for human health. Read more...
Why do families build toilets? If the family tradition for many generations has been to defecate in the open – using local woods or accepted sites, then what is the incentive to make a break and opt for a toilet instead? Read more...
When three small towns in the state of Karnataka, India attempted to provide continuous water supply to their citizens through a public-private partnership, they faced disbelief even ridicule. A sustained and strategic communication campaign over several years finally enabled the Karnataka Urban... Read more...
An Indian e-toilet manufacturer has partnered with a local animation institute to create hygiene promotion cartoons for schools. Read more...
Amraiwadi, a crime-prone slum area of Ahmedabad, is set for a makeover as nearly 1200 families will get one-bedroom flat with good drainage, separate toilets, a drinking water supply, a landscaped garden and a school. This is the first project to be approved by the state Urban Development... Read more...
The government is planning to regulate over-extraction of groundwater in agriculture and industry which is seriously affecting drinking water supply in rural India, new Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said. "80 per cent of drinking water supply schemes of rural India are depending on... Read more...
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="214" caption="Jairam Ramesh. India's new sanitation crusader?"] [/caption] India's new rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has also taken charge of the newly-created Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Will the former environmental crusader... Read more...
Provision of communal facilities reduces but does not end the problem of open defecation in poverty pockets, according to a new study in Bhopal, India. Women appear to be relatively poorly served by communal facilities and, cost is a barrier to use by poorer households. Read more...
In rural India, extremes of coercion are being used to encourage toilet use writes Liz Chatterjee in the Guardian’s Poverty Matters blog. Her provocative post has drawn comments from the likes of Robert Chambers, Rose George, Ned Breslin and Erik Harvey. Read more...
Interesting key message emerge from a new Research Brief from a recent WSP/World Bank study to improve understanding of the financing of on-site sanitation at the household level through analysis of field experiences in six countries: Bangladesh, Ecuador, India (Maharashtra), Mozambique, Senegal,... Read more...
The Rotary Club will spend 5.5 million Rupees (US$ 121,000) to provide clean drinking water and proper sanitation in schools in Mussoorie, said Rotary District 3080 Governor Madhukar Malhotra. DG Malhotra was attending a programme on the Sanitation and Drinking Water Project for schools held at the... Read more...
Despite a significant increase in public water supply, one million families in Chennai, about a third of the city's population, rely on sachets, PET bottles and cans of water for daily consumption. Sales of packaged water continue to soar in a state that already has 680 licensed private drinking... Read more...
Prisoners in Orissa state, India and in Sunsari District, eastern Nepal, are being deprived of proper sanitation and safe drinking paper, according to local newspaper reports. India, Orissa At a meeting in April 2011 on jail administration, Orissa's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked officials... Read more...
More than five projects aiming to augment water supply for the growing Mumbai metropolitan region are facing opposition from locals and the tribal population in rural areas. They are demanding that they get water first before going ahead with the projects. The projects, financed by the Mumbai... Read more...
Some 385 primary schools run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) have no water purifiers. They are supplied by water tankers of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). A recent study by the MCD health department showed that 18 per cent of tanker water supplied by the DJB is contaminated. Therefore the... Read more...
India is sitting on 89.95 billion rupees (US$ 2 billion) of unused foreign aid for water supply and sanitation, according to a report by government auditor Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG). As of 31 March 2010, unutilised committed external assistance for 16 sectors, including water... Read more...
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) launched its Facebook page in January 2011 and an integrated SMS service in March 2011 to enable public monitoring of garbage collection sites and public urinals/toilets in areas under its jurisdiction. In the first month of operation 99 per cent of the... Read more...
[caption id="attachment_5121" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="With this photo on Facebook local resident Akshay Arora asks the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to "kindly send some one and get it clean this Toilet/Urinal". One day later on 7 April 2011, MCD replied: "Your complaint... Read more...