Community-based Water Quality Improvement in a Rehabilitated Slum Building

Abstract

The Indian mega-city of Mumbai is undergoing a major makeover through large-scale shifting of slum dwellers from hutments to proper buildings with fixed size of dwelling units. This rehabilitated community of the urban poor is facing a high disease burden, apparently due to its poor sanitation and hygienic practices. This study conducted a baseline health survey, especially with regard to water borne diseases, along with water quality assessment, in a slum rehabilitated building of Mumbai. The health survey and water assessment indicated that while the rehabilitated slum dwellers had poor hygienic practices, the contamination of municipality-supplied water was causing significant health hazards for the residents. Some residents did use basic water disinfection processes like boiling, straining and chlorination, but with little positive impact on health quality. This study highlights the importance of sanitation and hygiene along with the significance of provision of better water quality. Quality of water supplied by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) being fairly good, the contamination of drinking water with sewer lines is indicated. For such problems, community-based treatment should augment household-level treatment of water.