Clusterflush A new sanitatkrn plan could significantly c,hange life in a slum resettlement colony, fi nd s G ayath ri Sreed ha ra n. ffh
#'ffi
;;;;';;;;;;;";;
fewmonthsago,Savari Oevi. aS. ventured
*isRH, rrer trouse in Savda village to visit the bathroom at around one in the afternoon. Suddenly, she was abducted by a group of three men, and dragged into some bushes nearby. Savari is mute, and couldn't cry out for helP. Fortunately, a young boy saw what was happening, ran to Savda for help, and Savari was saved. Savari's story is an extreme case, but it has a lot of her neighbours in the West Delhivillage wonied about open defecation - and notjust because oftheir physical safety. These women's concerns will be one of the main points of discussion, when Dr Renu Khosla, Director atthe Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE), and Julia King, architect and doctoral candidate atthe London Metropolitan University, presenttheir plans for a model cl uster-sanitation system that's n the pipeline for Savda's residents this fortnight. Besides being a much needed solution,the cluster system will be a firstfor Delhi, if the government clears CURE's remodelling plans. Residents of this jhuggilhopdi colony were relocated to the i
68 www.timeoutdelhi.nel
wirrraunchthecruster-sanitation
villagesbytheDelhigovernment model)hasT06families,of
outof
May
development the
which 230-odd have a toilet. from different " ln such places, there's a much corridors, includingthose for Commonwealth Games and Metro higher incidence of diseases like malaria, typhoid etc - airborne construction. The relocation and waterborne - simply due to been in process since 2006, the persisting problem of open rumour has it that another
has and few
hundredpeoplewillfindtheirway defecation,"Gargexplained.
in
to this back-of-beyond location the coming months.
Barringa t2.5or 18.5 square metre plot perfamily,they getnothing. "No socialamenities, no infrastructure, no rations, no sanitation," is how Ranjana Garg, CURE's programme
officer, put itwhen we visited theirfield office in Savda. "When
Even
those who have toilets at home run the risk of
* g ffi ffi / +" rre$lErr<r , " '". """"-""T Efc:l!#frglg gC
diseasebecauseof the close proximityof
thesetotheirwashing andcookingareas. Not
tomentionthedangers $\'-SEFE3{FA&* posedbyseptictanks,
rEff.E
f{}f
fCI;_
which are positioned
ilHT:B'r3i'il*" 'is,trCpnr_i; *ielâ&#x201A;Ź f$] amount of waste water generated by one family $f*+g{} Ee "
{.t t :
d e
$
of approximatelyfive
thefirstlotof slum-dwellerswere people," Khoslasaid,speakingto resettled here in 2006
[from the windy had
Laxmi Nagarl, they came in monsoons, when it was and wet and cold. They barely tarpaulin sheets to work with when they were setting up their houses." Today,the houses in Savda Ghevra look only mildly homelike; a line of cement and brick that house 15 families every metres. A-Block (where
and
walls 25 CURE
1'1'
-
24 2OL2
atthe CURE ofiice in Hauz Khas, "septic tanks always overflow and seep into the walls, the structure." Seepage and the resultant fungus can weaken the structure quickly and considerably; even an earthquake measuringas little as four points on the Richter scale can cause serious damage to us
these houses. Khosla and Kingwill detailthe
reasons behind CURE's drive to change this highly unsanitary way of living at their llC presentation (their first attempt to engage the lndian public on the importance of sanitation in urban architecture), as well as the viability of a clustersanitation model, not just for villages butfor more congested settings in other parts ofthe city. "We plan to create an underground septic tank per 30 families; all the waste generated bythem will be redirected to a larger underground tank, which will be built underthe neighbourhoods parks, from where they'll be routed to a nullah nearby," said Khosla. The process doesn't stop there. The waste water will be treated before it enters the nullah, through an Anaerobic Bafiled Reactor, which is designed to greatly reduce organic waste matter in the water, making it easier forthe Jal Board to recycle. Khosla is insistentthat, through this ambitious project, citizens should be made aware of the environment they are complicit in building. "As citydwellers we should understand the complications we create for supposedly fringe communities when we sanitise development
corridors but otferthe slumdweller nothingto sanitise his own habitat," she said. Given how rapidly Delhi has urbanised in the lastfew decades, "we need to rethink howthe environment of the city is being endangered by poor planning and bad decisions," she added. King, Khosla's collaborator, believes "a good buildingwill always enrich the occupants' lives. A rotting building is symbolic of a rotten, unhappy, unhealthy lifestyle". Originally from Venezuela, King lived in Delhi as a teen, and is no strangerto scenes of poverty and illness. Still, her first visitto Savda and Ghevra was a shock. Speakingto lime Out from London, Kingexpressed her eagerness to start on her main task - strengthen ng the structu res in the villages. "Things have changed drastically since 2010.There are a marketplace, now, and auto services to ferry people to Mundka, nearby." A government clearance is allthey need nowto make SavdaGhevra a cleaner place. i
Paani, Potties aur Makaan is
onftre Mayl,5atthe lndia
lnternational Centre. See Events.