The ministry of jal shakti ministry started a 100-day campaign — Sujalam — on August 25 as part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to create more Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus villages by undertaking waste water management at the village level.

ODF and ODF Plus status

• To accelerate the efforts to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in rural areas of the country by October 2, 2019 and to put focus on safe sanitation, Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) was launched on October 2, 2014. 

• Under the programme, more than 10 crore toilets were constructed in rural areas across the country by 2019-20. As a result, all the 36 states/UTs declared themselves Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2, 2019.

• Having achieved the ODF status, the government approved Phase-II of the SBM(G) on February 19, 2020, to be implemented during 2020-21 to 2024-25, with the focus on the creating ODF Plus villages which includes sustainability of ODF status and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) in the rural areas of the country.

• The programme also aims to cover newly emerged households and that no one is left behind in having access to toilet facilities.

• ODF Plus village is defined as “a village which sustains its ODF status, ensures solid and liquid waste management and is visually clean.” 

• This includes ensuring that all households in a village, as well as the primary school, panchayat ghar and anganwadi centre, have access to a toilet and that all public places and at least 80 per cent of households effectively manage their solid and liquid waste and have a minimal litter and minimal stagnant water.

Highlights of Sujalam campaign:

• The aim of the 100-day campaign is to create more and more ODF Plus villages by undertaking waste water management at village level particularly through creation of one million soak-pits and also other grey water management activities.

• The campaign will not only build desired infrastructure like soak pits for management of grey water in villages but will also aid in sustainable management of water bodies.

• The disposal of waste water and clogging of waterbodies in the villages or on the outskirts of the villages remain one of the major problems. The campaign would help in management of the wastewater and in turn would help to revive the waterbodies.

• Furthermore, the campaign would boost the momentum of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II activities through community participation and will increase awareness about ODF Plus activities. Hence ensuring long-term maintenance and sustainability of built infrastructure.

• It would use the platform of awareness and behaviour change achieved during the first phase of the SBMG and provide focus for sustaining the same along with achieving the visual cleanliness by the way of SLW Management.

This campaign includes:

• Organising community consultations, ‘khuli baithaks’, and gram sabha meetings to analyse the current situation.

• Pass resolution to maintain ODF sustainability and achieve the needed number of soak pits to manage the grey water.

• Develop a 100 days’ plan to undertake sustainability and soak pit construction-related activities.

• Constructing the requisite number of soak pits.

• Retrofit toilets where needed through IEC and community mobilisation.

• Ensure all newly emerging households in villages have access to toilets.

What is grey water?

• Grey water includes used water from most of the domestic activities such as bathing, washing dishes and laundry. 

• Grey water is substantially less harmful than black water (water that has been contaminated by urine and faecal matter), but it still contains potentially hazardous chemical and biological matter. 

• It is estimated that around 15,000 to 18,000 million litres of grey water is generated daily in rural areas of India. If treated scientifically, grey water can be reused for several activities.

• Grey water management involves the treatment and reuse of domestic wastewater that has not been contaminated by urine or any faecal matter.

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