Only 20% of sewage water is treated in India

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found in a study that only 20 per cent of the 40,000 odd million litre of sewage is treated every day, creating a ticking health bomb in India. This means almost 80 per cent of urban sewage is left untreated. The study titled 'Excreta Does Matter', released at the second Anil Agarwal dialogue on water and waste water management, blamed weak enforcement of environmental laws, rapid urban development and lack of awareness about dangers of sewage for the water pollution. According to the study, municipal bodies of cities in India lack basic policy direction on how best to tackle issues of demand, supply and treatment of water, and management of sewage. Speaking at the event, Vice President Hamid Ansari said there is a serious lack of foresight in urban sewage and wastewater management in the country. This has led to a situation where India, which has the capacity to treat one third of its sewage, can actually treat only one-fifth, he said. According to Sunita Narain, a leading environmentalist and head of CSE, cities plan for water but forget about their waste. More water equals more waste. Cities have no clue how they will treat it, clean rivers...78 per cent of our sewage is officially untreated.