Mapping Sanitation

Hexagon Geospatial’s technology is helping an Indian city resolve its poor sanitation and provide a better life to the less affluent communities.

Lack of adequate sanitation is a major cause of deaths and diseases in a developing country like India. Poor sanitation not only adversely affects the quality of water and environment, but also has economic consequences and harmful effects on physical and mental well-being of the citizens. While there are many active developments focused on improving the infrastructure of more affluent areas, many of the informal settlements remain some of the most neglected vicinities. In the Indian state of Maharashtra alone, more than 11 million people are affected by open defecation.

However, a civil society organization — Shelter Associates (SA) —aims to convert urban informal settlements into housing societies, to provide safer and cleaner environment, thereby giving access to basic services like water, sanitation, etc. Working in the informal settlements of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Navi Mumbai, Kolhapur, and Sangli cities of Maharashtra, over the period of last two decades, SA has facilitated successful community and household sanitation projects. The launch of Swachh Bharat Mission by the Government of India, gave a further thrust to SA’s work. Thus, SA focused its attention to household sanitation in informal settlements by launching ‘One Home One Toilet’ (OHOT) model to overcome inadequate sanitation facilities in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Although along with inadequate sanitation, inadequate data was also a looming problem.