Dear Sir, It is a pity that ...

Dear Sir,

It is a pity that GOI has only MoUD focussing upon SMART CITIES and AMRUT CITIES and no one is caring about Village clusters...GOI may not have enough will if not funds for even providing safe Sewerage System and Storm Water Drainage System at par with Metros in European or advanced Countries where even Sewers are cleaned once or twice robotically every year by 100 bar water jets from inside to disallow bacteria colonisation.

Anyway , until GOI resolves to do the best, one can always hope for better than present options:

• What should be the minimum distance for open defecation from the river bank (since open defecation is a popular practice)?

May fix it as at least 1.5 KM line which should be a raised bund at least up to 0.5 m higher than HFL (Flood level of River) to restrict free flow of rainwater from fields to into the river..  

• Can open defecation be made safe for the  environment in any way?  

The minimum precautions can be that faecal matter should be covered with sand or loose earth so that it is say 4 to 6 inches buried and flies and insects do not come in direct touch and organic degeneration can happen thru bacteria in soil and place of use should keep changing, better to be in fields where bacteria digested organic matter is used up by plants..

• What is the best sanitation system Indian Villages can use without having to invest in Maintenance?

I strongly advocate Community Toilets in Village and in Schools , with Sewage going directly into Customised BIOREACTOR for anaerobic digestion of organics to the extent of 80% and semi-treated water is then stored in Lined Ponds with Bio-remediation...and ultimately, after total retention time of 45 to 60 days is used for Irrigation. It may also be possible to add Gobar Slurry into the Sewage. Biogas generated can well be used by a few families --that of Village/School Chowkidar/ Caretaker of Toilets. Schools can have trees and grass lands to be irrigated.