According to Housing Condition and Amenities in India, 2008-09 (released in 2010), National Sample Survey, http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/press_note_535_15nov10.pdf:  

•    The field work of the nationwide survey was carried out during July 2008 to June 2009. The report is based on the Central sample of 1,53,518 households (97,144 in rural areas and 56,374 in urban areas) surveyed from 8,130 sample villages in rural areas and 4,735 urban blocks spread over all States and Union Territories.

Availability of Drinking Water Facility

• In rural areas the major source of drinking water (most often used) was ‘tube well/hand pump’ in respect of 55 per cent of households followed by ‘tap’ for 30 per cent of households.

• In urban areas, ‘tap’ was the major source of drinking water for 74 per cent of the households and ‘tube well/hand pump’ served another 18 per cent households.

• The three sources of drinking water, ‘tap’, ‘tube well/hand pump’ and ‘well’ together served nearly 97 per cent of rural households and 95 per cent of urban households.

• Nearly 86 per cent of the rural households and 91 per cent of urban households got sufficient drinking water throughout the year from the first major source.

• Shortage of drinking water set in the month of March and gradually reached a peak during May; thereafter, the situation of availability of drinking water gradually improved and by August the situation improved substantially.

• During the month of May drinking water for 13 per cent of the rural households and 8 per cent of the urban households was insufficient.

• Drinking water facility within the premises was available to nearly 41 per cent of rural households and 75 per cent of urban households.

Bathroom Facility

• Bathroom facility was not available to nearly 64 per cent of rural households, while in urban areas, the proportion of households with no bathroom was lower, nearly 22 per cent.

• In the rural areas, detached bathrooms were more common (23 per cent of the households) than were attached bathrooms (13 per cent of the households).

• In urban areas, a higher proportion of households (48 per cent) had attached bathroom than detached bathroom (nearly 31 per cent).

Sanitation Facility

• Nearly 65 per cent of rural households had no latrine facility whereas 11 per cent of urban households did not have any latrine.

• Nearly 14 per cent of the households in rural areas and 8 per cent in urban areas used pit latrine.

• In rural areas, septic tank/flush latrine was used by 18 per cent households as compared to 77 per cent households in urban areas.

Electricity Facility

• At the all-India level, nearly 75 per cent of the households had electricity for domestic use. While 66 per cent households in rural areas had this facility, 96 per cent in urban areas had the facility.

Households With Three Basic Facilities: Drinking Water Within Premises, Latrine and Electricity

• Nearly 18 per cent of rural households had all three facilities (drinking water within premises, latrine and electricity) whereas in urban areas, all three facilities were available to 68 per cent households.

Micro Environmental Elements Surrounding the House

• Nearly 19 per cent of the households in rural areas and 6 per cent in urban areas had open katcha drainage. Nearly 57 per cent of the households in rural areas and 15 per cent in urban areas had no drainage arrangement.

• Garbage disposal arrangement was available to only 24 per cent of rural households and 79 per cent of the urban households.

• Nearly 18 per cent of the rural households and 6 per cent of the urban households had no direct opening to road.

 

According to Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water: 2010 Update (WHO and UNICEF), http://www.unicef.org/media/files/JMP-2010Final.pdf:

• Use of improved sanitation facilities is low in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

• Among the 2.6 billion people in the world who do not use improved sanitation facilities, by far the greatest number are in Southern Asia, but there are also large numbers in Eastern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

• 61% of global population uses improved sanitation facilities

• Unless huge efforts are made, the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation will not be halved by 2015. Even if we meet the MDG target, there will still be 1.7 billion people without access to basic sanitation. If the trend remains as currently projected, an additional billion people who should have benefited from MDG progress will miss out, and by 2015, there will be 2.7 billion people without access to basic sanitation.

• 672 million people will still lack access to improved drinking-water sources in 2015.

• Sub-Saharan Africa faces the greatest challenge in increasing the use of improved drinking-water. 884 million people – 37% of whom live in Sub–Saharan Africa – still use unimproved sources for drinking-water

• In China, 89% of the population of 1.3 billion uses drinking-water from improved sources, up from 67% in 1990. In India, 88% of the population of 1.2 billion uses drinking-water from such sources, as compared to 72% in 1990. China and India together account for a 47% share, of the 1.8 billion people that gained access to improved drinking-water sources between 1990 and 2008.

• For sanitation, even with the increase between 1990 and 2008 in the proportion of the population using improved sanitation facilities in China (from 41% to 55%) and India (from 18% to 31%), the world is not on track to meet the sanitation target. This is despite the fact that 475 million people gained access to improved sanitation in these two countries alone, a 38% share of the 1.3 billion people that gained access globally.

• Of the approximately 1.3 billion people who gained access to improved sanitation during the period 1990-2008, 64% live in urban areas.

• Worldwide, 87% of the population gets their drinking-water from improved sources, and the corresponding figure for developing regions is also high at 84%. While 94% of the urban population of developing regions uses improved sources, it is only 76% of rural populations.

• The rural population without access to an improved drinking-water source is over five times greater than that in urban areas. Of almost 1.8 billion people gaining access to improved drinking-water in the period 1990-2008, 59% live in urban areas. The urban-rural disparities are particularly striking in Sub-Saharan Africa, but are also visible in Asia and Latin America.

• The proportion of the world population that practises open defecation declined by almost one third from 25% in 1990 to 17% in 2008. A decline in open defecation rates was recorded in all regions. In Sub-Saharan Africa, open defecation rates fell by 25 per cent. In absolute numbers, the population practising open defecation increased, however, from 188 million in 1990 to 224 million in 2008. In Southern Asia, home to 64% of the world population that defecate in the open, the practice decreased the most – from 66% in 1990 to 44% in 2008.

• Between 1990 and 2008, more than 1.2 billion people worldwide gained access to a piped connection on premises.

• In developing regions, while 73% of the urban population uses piped water from a household connection, only 31% of rural inhabitants have access to household piped water supplies.

• For families without a drinking-water source on the premises, it is usually women who go to the source to collect drinking-water. Surveys from 45 developing countries show that this is the case in almost two thirds of households, while in almost a quarter of households it is men who usually collect the water. In 12% of households, however, children carry the main responsibility for collecting water, with girls under 15 years of age being twice as likely to carry this responsibility as boys under the age of 15 years.