Water and Sanitation for Subsidiary Groups: A Problem for Mumbai

Water-born and poor sanitation related diseases still account for much of the morbidity and mortality in India. Out of the 300 million urban dwellers in India 23% live in slums. This paper aims to examine the sanitation conditions of slums in Mumbai. 6.9 million Slum dwellers are residing in almost 2000 slum pockets in Mumbai, which constitutes 54% of the population of the city. Most of the slum households depend on inadequate public toilet facilities of very poor quality. Efforts and investments in sanitation have failed to alleviate the situation, as the local population has not been involved. Only recently a demand driven approach has been applied largely inspired by experiences in rural sanitation programmes. Still supply-driven initiatives by short-term political interests are, to some extent, eroding the resources available for sanitation. However, experiences from the last decade locally and globally, reveal that the demand-driven model is a way forward.