Rejuvenation of community toilets

Sanitation services are necessary to support urban stability, enable social balance, economic growth and development and are imperative for the improvement of urban public services. Although there have been several national initiatives to increase sanitation coverage in India, a substantial part of urban population, especially in slums, has no adequate sanitation facilities made available to them by the government machinery, whether local or central. In cities, as on-site sanitation option, Urban Local Bodies have constructed community toilets. Community toilets not only provide sanitation facility, but have at the same time a demonstrative effect as well. The people using these public toilets become habitual users, and in turn realize the need for individual household toilets. Community toilets thus are the tools for bringing behavioral changes amongst the public residing in the slum areas as well as they are generating a demand for the use of the individual toilets.
This document treats the aspects of a renovation of the community toilets in Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore and Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. Large and sizable investments have been made for the construction of these community toilets, which have become either hazardous, unhygienic or abandoned due to poor construction and planning, lack of water supply or lack of proper operation & maintenance. The document presents the background of the problem, a situation analysis and the implementation strategy of the renovation process.