Written by Akhila Sivadas, Rajib Das and Damodaran Koyyal
At the recent G20 summit in New Delhi, world leaders reiterated their commitment to addressing climate change challenges by building sustainable and appropriate solutions. Notwithstanding these commitments, climate-induced loss and damage are taking place in different parts of the world.
With an extensive coastline of around 7,517 kilometres, India is among the most vulnerable countries, with exposure to rising sea levels, floods and droughts. The marginalised communities living in the coastal belt are particularly vulnerable to these extreme weather events, which cost the country over 17,000 lives between 2012 and 2021 alone.
Extreme climate events have a significant impact on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services as droughts, floods, and cyclones can damage toilets, water supplies, and sewerage infrastructure, affecting the quality of water supply and sewage spillage. This has disastrous health impacts on the communities living in the slum settlements of urban cities.
Water was mentioned for the first time in the final declaration adopted at the UN Conference of the Parties (COP27) held at Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2022. Building on the resolutions and commitments made at COP27, countries have to make serious efforts to find effective solutions to address the climate impact on WASH at the forthcoming COP28 in Dubai.
The responsibility for providing drinking water supply and sanitation services falls under the purview of state governments, as outlined in the State List of the Seventh Schedule. The 74th Amendment to the Constitution mandated the devolution of these services to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). Despite India having the policy framework for WASH-related policies in flagship missions such as the Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan missions, the country still struggles with developing a climate-resilient WASH infrastructure and sustainable practices.
Understanding and improving resilience requires reliable data that offers insights into urban dynamics and the potential challenges faced by the poor living in these settlements. In this context, the risk and vulnerability assessment that the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) did, supported by the Water for Women initiative of the Australian government, to identify the potential climatic risks and their impact on WASH infrastructure in the slum areas of Jaipur and Bhubaneswar, provides important insights. For this, we selected households in 19 wards and 24 wards in Bhubaneswar and Jaipur respectively.
As the spatial locations of slums play a significant role in designing appropriate local actions for the resilience of the marginalised groups, we selected slum settlements which are susceptible to climate change impacts. For example, in Bhubaneswar, 48.6 per cent of settlements were situated near drains and canal roads, exposing them to potential flooding during heavy rains.
The consequences are evident when considering the 2011 Census data for a total of 67 wards in Bhubaneswar and 77 wards in Jaipur; it reveals that 52 per cent and 16 per cent of the wards, respectively, face high vulnerability due to multiple indicators, including illiteracy, lack of access to electricity and mobile phones, and the significant presence of marginalised communities, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
These factors, when combined with the three critical WASH indicators (lack of latrine facilities, wastewater treatment and access to treated drinking water), compound the vulnerabilities and significantly impact the overall resilience of these populations. The pressing question is whether programmes like the Swachh Bharat Mission and AMRUT scheme, which have diligently worked to improve WASH infrastructure in informal settlements, have adequately addressed climate preparedness on both small and large scales.
Our study emphasises the consequences of climate events on water and sanitation services. While tap connections have improved to 92 per cent in Bhubaneswar and 72 per cent in Jaipur, these figures drop, respectively, to 77 per cent and 25 per cent during adverse climate events, forcing people to resort to government and private tankers. Similarly, access to latrine facilities declined during these events, leading to a surge in open defecation, from 6 per cent to 18 per cent in Bhubaneswar and 11 per cent to 80 per cent in Jaipur. People are aware of the need for raised pit latrines in flood-prone areas, but financial constraints and the low-lying location of households hinder their construction.
Additionally, while public/mobile toilets have increased to 11 per cent in Bhubaneswar and 6.4 per cent in Jaipur, they are often submerged and unclean after heavy rains, emphasising the need for climate-resilient WASH infrastructure and community preparedness; this is particularly vital due to the high prevalence of vector- and water-borne diseases.
Therefore, the spread of diseases adds another layer of challenges, with 80 per cent of slum residents in Bhubaneswar and 63 per cent in Jaipur reporting fever, skin infections, malaria, dengue and typhoid, loss of livelihood, with economic instability and increased healthcare costs. Women and girls suffered the most, grappling with menstrual hygiene challenges and facing harassment while relieving themselves due to the lack of home toilets.
Despite facing a series of challenges, the silver lining is that the people are adaptive and not ready to give up. People across slums and wards continuously find and experiment with ways to address these challenges. To combat the spread of waterborne diseases, they regularly test water quality in various wards, such as 16, 18, 30, and 49 in Bhubaneswar, and 7, 84, 93, and 99 in Jaipur; they also monitor places prone to waterlogging independently.
Moreover, they take it upon themselves to get defunct water sources, like hand-pumps, repaired and have prepared alternative water sources in wards such as 5, 18, 19, and 46 in Bhubaneswar and ward 84 and 99 in Jaipur. Governments can further strengthen people’s initiatives by strengthening their capacity to sustain safe sanitation and incentivising them to revive alternative water sources, store water to cope with supply irregularities, and conduct regular water testing for a resilient and sustainable future.
Sivadas is Executive Director, Das is MEL Consultant and Koyyal is Documentation-in-charge, CFAR
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