KARACHI, Nov 20: The sight a man relieving himself at some isolated street corner, behind a tree, on roadside, bus stop or at railway track, is more or less common in all cities of Pakistan, but the indecent practice is becoming a routine matter in Karachi due to the indifference of civic agencies towards the need for a decent public toilet system.

Countries around the globe on Saturday observed the World Toilet Day with a pledge to make a better public toilet system available to citizens, but sadly no encouraging activity in this regard was seen here.

Though the issue of public toilet system and safe sanitation environment in our country demands urgent attention, it is accorded no priority. Pakistan is not the only country that has been facing this issue. At present, some 2.6 billion people around the world lack adequate sanitation facilities and the number constitutes 40 per cent of the entire world population.

According to a survey conducted by the British charity ‘WaterAid’, more than 10 million people are deprived of the facility of hygienic lavatories. About two million people. mainly children, die from diarrhoea, chiefly as a consequence of poor sanitation.

The organization says that in terms of absolute numbers, the situation is marginally worse in India where 772 million people are forced to squat in fields and on roadsides, than in China where the figure is estimated at 736 million. Ethiopia has the lowest proportion — just six per cent — of the population thought to have public lavatory facility. Eight of the 10 nations rated worst for per capita provision of toilets are in Asia.

Aid agencies working in water and sanitation sectors have suffered a 14 per cent cut in the funding globally since 1999, according to the WaterAid. “Lack of adequate sanitation is not just a problem of convenience, it is also a major health hazard. Urban population growth rates in the developing world are vastly outstripping increased sanitation provision. Aid donors do not prioritize sanitation for spending in today’s developing countries, despite sanitation having played a major role in reducing mortality in their own countries.”

The development index of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranks Pakistan 127th among 162 countries. Two immediate factors contributing to the country’s low-ranking are inadequate coverage of water supply and sanitation.

In our country, nearly 45 per cent of all households do not have access to latrine. Furthermore, only 51 per cent of all households is connected to any form of drainage, of which 35 per cent to open drains and 16 per cent to underground sewers or covered drains. Thus the availability of latrines does not necessarily indicate an improvement in sanitation.

It is also estimated that only five per cent households have access to a municipal garbage collection system. Nearly 81 per cent households do not have any garbage collection system at all. Moreover, inadequate sanitation together with unsafe drinking water supply constitutes a major death and disability threat in developing countries.

Public sector investment in this sector is woefully inadequate. For instance, Pakistan spends less than a percentage point of its GDP on sanitation. Therefore, sanitary conditions here are appalling. Toilets may be available but a proper system for disposal of wastes does not exist. Systems for disposal of liquid and solid wastes are inadequate.

The studies on health and sanitation in urban Pakistan reveal that a high mortality rate in the under-five children due to diarrhoeal diseases is caused by inadequate access to safe water, household and environmental sanitation and poor hygiene practices.

In the recent past, the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) had initiated a plant to build public toilets in various parts of Karachi and, in fact, many were set up, but their number seemed too little as compared to the huge population of this city.

Interestingly, toilets in mosque vicinities usually serve as public toilets, though in most cases they are opened only in prayer hours.

Public toilets are needed in all parts, especially commercial and shopping areas, of the city. There should be a sufficient number of public toilets for womenfolk in markets and shopping areas. The acute shortage of public toilets could be eased if the facility is made available to general public at all government properties, including schools, dispensaries, parks, playgrounds, police stations and check posts. The government may also make owners of all shopping centres, markets and restaurants to ensure that the facility was available in their buildings.

Only having toilets in all such buildings may not serve the purpose unless there is a proper sanitation system. Hence, revamping the drainage system of the city also warrants urgent attention of policymakers. It is heartening to note that the present CDGK administration is concerned over the poor and worn out sanitation system of the city.

In this regard, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Wednesday last that the system would be revamped within a year for which initially Rs2.7 billion had been provided to the KWSB. He said that all was not well in the water supply and sewerage disposal sector. He pointed out that without revamping underground water and sewerage lines, construction of new roads was meaningless.

It is worth recalling that Nov 19 was declared as World Toilet Day in 2001 by 17 toilet associations around the world. Since then, annual summits and many regional conferences have been held. This year, the World Toilet Organization has been running an exhibition campaign (Nov 17-22) at River Promenade in Belfast.—PPI