Public sanitation a must!
If the target
to bring everyone under sanitation has
to be fulfilled by 2020,
a concerted drive is required where not only ETPs but public sanitation will also feature with equal
significance
It is indeed heartening to see that the government has decided to have a separate plan to ensure proper disposal of sewerage water in urban areas. At a recently held seminar, it was revealed that six effluent treatment plants, (ETP)s, will be created to treat water before it ends up in the rivers.
The advantages of having such plants are many because, while on the surface, the treated water falling into the river does not add to the pollution of the water bodies, the deeper, often not evident result is the reduction in a plethora of diseases that are related to untreated water carrying germs and filth.
Its a fact that in almost all urban slums around the country, a wide range of ailments starting from malaria to jaundice, are linked to the usage of polluted water. Since cities in Bangladesh have always had a profound link to water bodies surrounding them, its essential that any water used beforehand undergoes treatment.
At the seminar, hopes were also voiced about the necessity to establish proper sanitation systems for large number of floating people that has become a characteristic of most townships of Bangladesh.
Now, this is one area where more attention is required because as conscious urbanites we do not see enough public sanitation facilities, even in the capital.
The errant habit of finding a shaded corner to relieve oneself still dominates with most cities lacking the adequate number of public toilets.
Speakers at the seminar have stated that the city corporation will address this issue but we feel, time for such hope inducing platitudes is over.
We need to see action now!
ETPs can take out the harmful elements from the used water but will provide little solution to people still defecating in the open, usually near the banks of water bodies.
The city corporation has to adopt a decentralization policy, handing out the task of public sanitation facilities to the respective wards.
Once each ward commissioner is given a certain objective to fulfill, the plan of having public sanitation systems will see fruition.
In Dhaka, most major public intersections do not have any public toilets and the unseen repercussion is that most women, outside their homes for work or, for recreation, refrain from answering to natures call an insidious habit which has led to an alarming rise in kidney related diseases.
If the target to bring everyone under sanitation has to be fulfilled by 2020, a concerted drive is required where not only ETPs but public sanitation will also feature with equal significance.
