The Elements of a Clean Environment - Sanitation

Proper sanitation is essential for maintaining clean public spaces. Excretion of feces, urination and producing saliva and phlegm are normal human bodily functions. What is abnormal is to defecate in the open, urinate in public spaces and spit everywhere. It is a sad observation in our country that these are still practised widely. The proper disposal of human waste is indispensable.

Untreated human waste in the environment poses a serious hazard to human health and safety. It facilitates the spread of gastrointestinal diseases and provides a medium for harmful microorganisms to grow and spread. It also produces bad odours that cause disgust and revulsion.

In order to properly dispose of human waste people have to change their behaviour. Although difficult to achieve overnight, people's attitude and customs have to be modified. Extensive education and social awareness is needed. People have to stop spitting and urinating on the street. Open defecation has to be eliminated. People have to be encouraged to build toilets in their personal spaces as well as use public toilets and that too in a clean manner. People using public toilets have to learn that other people have to use them after. They should not leave the toilet dirtier than they found them.

Secondly, public toilets have to provided. These should be in sufficient number and strategically and conveniently located. They should be safe and accessible. They should be properly built and user friendly.They should be easy to maintain.

Thirdly, there should be a functioning system to maintain these facilities. There should be cleaning staff who are properly trained, paid and respected. They should be supervised and encouraged to take pride in their work. They should be adequately equipped.

Fourthly, the accumulated waste should be properly removed from household as well as public sources. Good sewerage systems have to be built and maintained. Local bodies should plan for the future and build sewerage systems that have excess capacity that is adequate for years to come, taking into account new development in the future.

Finally the sewage has to be treated properly before it is disposed of. Treated sewage water has to safely released into the environment. Brand new and posh apartments with ultra modern toilets inside cannot discharge their sewage into an adjoining open public compound or water body. This is the same as open defecation. Accumulating solid material, night soil has to be composted or safely disposed of otherwise.

If a step by step breakdown of the problem is undertaken and solutions are found and implemented the sanitation woes of the country can be solved.

The Elements of a Clean Environment - Waste Disposal

Waste is inevitable. Every individual and and society generates waste. The waste has to properly collected and disposed of. This involves proper collection, segregation, transportation and final disposal.

Waste disposal requires proper human behaviour, infrastructure and regular mechanisms.

For example, for a park to be clean, people have to seek a garbage bin and deposit their litter in it. This consciousness has to be ingrained in the psyche.  If they cannot find a bin they would wait till they find one. To simply throw it  away should be psychologically impossible. This has to be inculcated into peoples behaviour. It should become part of the culture.

Secondly, this behaviour should be encouraged and facilitated by the provision of infrastructure, which in this case would be bins located strategically and in adequate numbers with appropriate spacing. This is the responsibility of the institution managing the park, be it the government or private entity.

Thirdly, there should be a mechanism of removal. In this case the bins should be emptied at regular time intervals The timing should be dictated by the propensity of the waste to decompose as well as the volume generated. For instance if there is a lot of wet organic waste generated it should be removed before it putrefies. The bins have to emptied before they overflow. At least once daily they should be emptied.

Fourthly the garbage has to transported in a contained and hygienic manner to the final destination of disposal. If a truck is used it it should be built for that purpose.

Finally the accumulated waste should be disposed of properly. Here it means that the garbage either has to sorted, segregated, recycled and composted or disposed of in a scientifically constructed landfill. It is unacceptable to transport waste from one place and dump it in another.

If the above elements fall into place, the place becomes clean.

The Goal - A Clean Environment

The goal should be an environment that is neat and tidy with no trash that is visible. The trash should be contained and ready for the next step of disposal and not an eyesore. There should be no bad odours. The place should smell nice or neutral. It should be hygienic with no risk for transmission of disease.Visible dirt and bad smells are the first alerts for the human mind to defend against infection.They are also emotionally disturbing. Once we eliminate these two aspects, the country would be much cleaner. We should also eliminate the invisible and hidden dirt that contaminates the air, ground and water.

The current situation in many parts of India is far from ideal. It is very common to see roadsides, open spaces and water bodies strewn with garbage of all kinds. Plastic waste flies around the countryside, dispersed by the wind.  People spit everywhere. Most places smell bad. Rotting garbage, urine, decomposing fecal matter and stagnant water, all contribute to this bad smell. Water and food borne diseases that cause vomiting and diarrhoea are common. This situation has to change.

The unclean environment costs the country in many ways. Illnesses result in lost productivity and increased medical costs. It turns away tourism and the potential revenue it generates.It discourages investment. It sullies the country's reputation which in turn costs it prestige and respect on the international stage. The poor sanitary reputation that India has around the world inhibits its ability to influence world affairs to its advantage. Smaller, less important countries turn around and say that if India is unable to keep its environment clean, it has to be a weak country and its opinions do not matter.

For things to change, society has to recognise the gravity of the problem. Solutions that work have to be identified and tried. Awareness among the population has to increase. All levels of government , social organisations and NGOs have to work together. People should change behaviour. A sense of pride and ownership in public spaces has to be developed and grown.

It can be done, but needs a concerted and sustained effort by many. The time line should be about 10 years. If we start now, by the year 2022 we should be able achieve our target of a clean environment in most parts of India including Tamil Nadu, that would be the envy of the world.

Tamil Nadu, India and Cleanliness of Public Spaces- The Coming Revolution

Tamil Nadu has so much to be proud of. A civilization of antiquity that is still alive and vibrant. A fascinating history, amazing culture, unique cuisine, ancient and articulate language, fantastic temples, beautiful landscapes - it has so much to be admired. The people are cultured and proud of their country and state. Tamil pride is well known. We are also fiercely proud of being Indian.

What is puzzling is that we as a people have such profound lack of civic sense.In most parts of the world, the cleanliness of public spaces is considered an essential element of civilization. Even in India, the Indus Valley Civilization, the oldest evidence of urban civilization here, is renowned for the importance given to sanitation.

How the modern Indian nation state ended up being one of the most unclean countries in the world is indeed very surprising. Indians in general, as a civilized people, give great importance to the cleanliness of themselves and their immediate surroundings, but exhibit a callous disregard for the cleanliness of public spaces. We litter everywhere, spit everywhere, urinate against public walls and practice open defecation. We seem incapable of keeping public washrooms clean even in modern airports. This attribute is a unifying feature and is common to all Indians, the Tamilians being no exception. Tamil and Indian nationalists who spend so much time extolling the greatness of their past, pay scant attention to the unclean state of their streets and open spaces. Strangely they are quite immune to the ridicule with which the rest of the world views their country.

The reasons for this apathy is hard to fathom. Is it poverty? Tamil Nadu is one of the more prosperous states in India and poorer societies in the world have managed to maintain cleaner cities and villages. Is it lack of education? Again Tamil Nadu is one of the more literate states. It has to be cultural. The society just does not value cleanliness. It is not part of the culture. If society really desires it, it can be achieved in a democratic state as elected officials have to respond to the voters needs in the end, no matter how corrupt and dysfunctional they are. It is too easy to blame poor governance. Poor governance in a democracy reflects ineffectual and impotent citizens.

But change we must. Tamil Nadu and India have to change and change very fast. Enough being the laughing stock of the world. And change we can. There are plenty of success stories when you look hard enough. These have to nurtured, grown and spread. Individual citizens have to change their ways. Awareness has to be increased at every level. No society will ever have enough resources to police and penalize when the majority err. Change has to begin from the individual level. Education is key. Every form of media, social and traditional has to be leveraged to spread awareness.

 As individuals buy in, they in turn will convince their immediate social networks such as families, relatives, friends, neighbours, employees, colleagues, fellow workers, students, patients etc. The message will spread in concentric circles, like waves emanating from a stone dropped in water. Individuals and small groups will act as catalysts of change. As the awareness spreads the change will take hold in smaller social units such as streets, apartment complexes, residential neighbourhoods, workplaces, offices, schools, health care institutions, malls,places of worship, small villages, hamlets etc., and the concentric circles of change will merge. Larger units of change such as towns, cities and regions will follow.

As the culture changes, the percentage of the population that values clean public spaces will increase and reach a critical mass. When the critical mass is achieved society will reach a tipping point and further change will be quite rapid and dramatic.The critical mass need not be the majority, but soon after the critical mass is achieved, the majority will change. Society in general will acquire a collective consciousness about general cleanliness that will be hard to reverse. We would have crossed the Rubicon and achieved a point of no return which will transform society. Then, the minority who will not change, the isolated pockets, can be identified, prosecuted, penalized and punished.

The path to the tipping point will be hard and uphill. Dedicated individuals will have to work hard, with conviction and persistence. Once it is reached, the path becomes downhill and easy. The revolution would be complete.