The Charter

souce    http://washcharter.org/charter/

IN Pakistan we are using UV LAMPS for drinking water

treatment, thinking exposure to uv light kills bacteria, virus .

some who know a little more think that rather than killing it

stalls the further multiplication, so for so good. today i came across this

mutation effect that scares me to think . rather than making our wter safe we may be adding several types of mutated bacteria and virus to our system . these microorganisms are of unknown nature  may be more dangerous than the ones we are trying to get rid of and much more resistant to what  we know of controlling them.

‘Acquired (or somatic) mutations occur in the DNA of individual cells at some time during a person’s life. These changes can be caused by environmental factors such as ultraviolet radiation from the sun, or can occur if a mistake is made as DNA copies itself during cell division. Acquired mutations in somatic cells (cells other than sperm and egg cells) cannot be passed on to the next generation.’

hope microbiologists and molecular/ biological engineers can help me get rid of this negative thinking

 

IMPROVING SAFE DRINKING WATER SERVICE DELIVERY BY STRENGTHENING THE AMENDED LOCAL GOVERNMENT’s ORDINANCE, 2005

The Constitution of Pakistan guarantees “right to life” to all Pakistani citizens under Section 6.  Water is fundamental for human survival which is universally recognized as a basic human right (stated in Article 25(1), Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Ensuring universal access to safe drinking water as an essential part of right to life is one of the most important functions of Governments, who take the prime responsibility of providing safe drinking water to their citizens. The situation in Pakistan is, however, much below the accepted limits; whereas the Government of Pakistan realizes that safe drinking water is imperative for human health, and its provision is a mandate which the Government should fulfill, the actual practice is not in line with this thinking.  A case in point is lack of a comprehensive legislation for supply of safe drinking water.

The essential and scarce water resource has to be treated as a public good which implies that management of water resources and supply must be a government responsibility so that public interest can be served. Therefore Government’s involvement should concentrate on strategic planning of water resources development in line with future demand and through effective regulations. Public awareness of water rights, regulations and economic instruments are important to ensure understanding and acceptance of all stakeholders.

Unlike other public utilities like power, gas, telephonic services has lead to the revelation that whereas all these sectors are regulated and have legislation in place, the drinking water is left at the mercy of service providers.  In the process of privatization of utilities the interest of the consumer was kept in mind to some extent, no such relief for the consumers is foreseeable in case of water.

Legislations in sectors of service delivery like the Local Government’s Ordinance, are meant to regulate these sectors for efficient operation; they also serve the purpose of protecting peoples’ rights.  This makes it all the more important that this important utility is governed by uniform policies by the government and legislation is in place to protect peoples’ right to safe water. Such protection is very important for important public utilities.  Public health importance of safe water makes it even more important that legislation is in place to protect human health through ensuring provision of safe drinking water.  However, as is evident  from experience in many countries that the adoption of adequate water laws and regulations is a sensitive and time-consuming task.

The spirit of the Local Government Ordinance 2001 is to improve services for the consumers falling in the ambit of local bodies, by holding the local governments responsible for service delivery in their respective constituencies – supply of safe drinking water is one of these.  However the matter has not been dealt with at length in the Ordinance and this loosely placed responsibility has failed to gain due importance for the local bodies.  It is all the more important because supplying safe drinking water is not the only function that the local governments are performing, and further clarifications are required in the sections pertaining to supply of safe drinking water for the consumers, under the Local Government’s Ordinance.

It is suggested that the following points may be taken into account in the process of making the Local Government’s Ordinance, 2001 more effective and elaborate on the subject of safe drinking water and also ensure supply of this important public health utility in the best possible manner.

Proposed Changes in the amended Local Government Ordinance 2005

Local Government shall be responsible to provide safe drinking water to the population within their electoral boundaries.

Delineation of drinking and wholesome water

• The existing section 94 in the VI^th Schedule may be retained for supply of wholesome water to the consumers.  However it is insufficient in the sense that it does not deal with drinking water exclusively.
• The meaning of the word “wholesome” in Schedule VI article 94, according to Oxford Dictionary is …………………………………………..This is evasive enough to relieve the relevant local government of the responsibility of providing safe ,fit for human consumption drinking water to consumers. The word be changed with safe drinking water. Hence the Schedule VI article 94 Sub clause (1) would read as the concerned local government shall provide or cause to provide to its local area a supply of safe drinking water sufficient fro public and private purposes.

• A sub-section pertaining to drinking water can be added to delineate water for ordinary purposes from that meant for drinking purposes

Health Departments’ involvement

• Mechanism for involvement of the health officials, like EDO health or Tehsil health committees in the subject of provision of safe drinking water to the consumers

• Responsibility of the Local Health Department to inform the water service provider of the number of cases of water-related diseases on a fortnightly basis

• Informing the water service provider of any emergency situation involving water related illnesses so that problem identification and rectification can be initiated to prevent further morbidity and mortality

As for the quality

• Wherever the word water appears and it is meant for human consumption it will mean

Water in accordance with the standard No.PS-1932: 2002, (In place of wholesome)

issued from time to time by Pakistan Standards and Quality control authority (PSQCA), Ministry  of Science and Technology.

• The drinking water provider – public or private- shall ensure complete water analysis and quality control in such a way that the water conforms toPakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority ( PSQCA )standards.

• The provider – public or private- shall arrange to issue a consumer confidence report………………………………….. at least every six months through the media and other possible communication tools. This report will mention the precautions being taken to   ensure a safe drinking water supply, the test reports and any measures the consumer should take in case of an unmanageable quality problem.

• The provider shall also issue a monthly report showing the quantity of water being Supplied to various localities of the area covered.

• Drinking water will be completely tested in a Laboratory of repute like Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR),National Institute Health(NIH), Medical College, University, other than the provider at least once a year, as third  Party surveillance.
• Third party (CBOs, NGOs, Consumer Groups, Researchers, Village Councils / Neighborhood Councils) surveillance for water quality to be encouraged.

As for monitoring

• Monitoring of water supply  management through water committees, comprising of six citizens representing various classes, at UC level .

Water charges …………………………………………………………………………………………?

The terms Improved drinking water and sanitation are hard to understand objectively. WHO/UNICEF joint monitoring program have tried to explain it a little forward. To asses the progress on MDGs we need to unpack the definitions of Improved Drinking water supply and Improved Sanitation. This is important to Evaluate access to MDGs on a uniform level, globally.
As a step Farther the term Reducing to Half the access to those having no reach to improved quality of water and sanitation is not very objective, as the number of existing sufferers , not having improved drinking water and sanitation for each country, zone and region needs to be defined on credible basis.
Kindly Feel Free to discuss.
The drinking-water and sanitation ladders
Since its development in the 2008 report, this ladder allows JMP to show what is considered improved and unimproved in a more refined way than the only pass/fail former presentation without changing the MDG definitions. This ladder currently allows a disaggregated analysis of trends in a three rung ladder for drinking-water and a four-rung ladder for sanitation as shown to the right.
For sanitation, this gives an understanding of the proportion of population globally with no sanitation facilities at all, of those reliant on technologies defined by JMP as “unimproved,” of those sharing sanitation facilities of otherwise acceptable technology, and those using “improved” sanitation facilities.
Similarly, the water ladder has been prepared showing the global proportion of those using unimproved water sources, those using “improved” sources other than piped household connections and those benefiting from household connections in a dwelling, plot or yard.
These refinements allow countries and the international community to form a clearer understanding of the situation of access to water and sanitation (learn more about JMP and country collaborations). As definitional differences are often the prime cause for discrepancies in the estimates between country figures and JMP estimates, the ladder tries to show where this discrepancy precisely is coming from. This new way of analysing access has become an essential tool for data reconciliation at national level, between the different stakeholders and especially sector agencies and national statistics offices, as well as between the national level and JMP.
Source  http://www.wssinfo.org/definitions-methods/watsan-ladder/

MAKE THIS CONFERENCE COUNT:

GRASSROOTS ACTIVISTS URGE GOVERNMENTS TO MAKE GOOD ON THEIR COMMITMENTS

As the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV, 4-7 April 2011) kicks off in Colombo, Sri Lanka, leading civil society groups present a unified call to their governments to take concrete steps to address the life threatening state of sanitation and hygiene affecting the nearly one billion most marginalised and voiceless people in the region.

Civil society representatives and community leaders will formally present a joint statement, reflecting the views of thousands of people living with the reality of unsafe sanitation, to leaders and experts calling for them to deliver on commitments made in Delhi in 2008. In addition, they call for:

• the inclusion of the right to sanitation and water in legislation
• the design and delivery of context-specific, equitable and inclusive sanitation and hygiene programmes with better identification of the poorest and most marginalised groups, and transparent targeting of financing
• the development of strong accountability mechanisms that include everyone from community level to national governments

In turn, civil society groups commit to leading with integrity, inspiring through example and transforming through meaningful partnership their collective vision of sanitation and hygiene for all into reality.

“Despite our collective efforts, since the last SACOSAN 750,000 children under-five have died of diarrhea caused by poor sanitation and water in South Asia,” the statement reads.

“We are striving to bring an end to these preventable deaths and this huge suffering so we call on our governments to take urgent action.”

“We have consulted widely with our communities so our statement reflects thousands of voices” explains Ramisetty Murali, Convenor of FAN South Asia (FANSA) co-organiser, with WaterAid and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), of a preparatory meeting, where over 100 civil society members and activists came together to explore key issues blocking progress on sanitation and to agree the statement.

“We have worked hard over the years to secure space in the official conference and, for the first time, community leaders have the opportunity to present the statement in their own plenary session, where key decision makers will also benefit from hearing the real life experience from those people working on the ground.”

“We would like to see our recommendations taken seriously and reflected in the final declaration as well as in national policies going forward” said Mustafa Talpur, WaterAid’s Regional Advocacy and Policy Advisor for South Asia

“If the leaders of South Asia are serious about tackling child mortality, and stopping millions of needless deaths, they must follow their consciences and deliver on the promises they have made.”

Early findings from a South Asian People’s Perspective on Sanitation study will be launched at the conference. Based on a series of interviews and discussions with a cross-section of poor and marginalised people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it highlights the real situation people are facing every day thanks to the shocking state of sanitation and offering solutions for the way forward.

The coalition also employed an innovative Traffic Light discussion paper, produced by WaterAid, to highlight the gap between government commitments on sanitation and action taken for each country.

At current rates of progress, the 2015 MDG target for sanitation will not be met in South Asia. `”As South Asia races to meet the MDGs, we will need to focus disproportionately on the marginalised and vulnerable in order to ensure that they are not left out “, emphasizes Archana Patkar, Programme Manager, WSSCC.   This failure comes at an enormous social and economic cost. In India alone inadequate sanitation costs the economy US $53.8 billion annually in lost productivity, healthcare provisions and other losses.

Notes to editors:
For all media enquiries, please contact Ceridwen Johnson (FAN) +94 776 120 203 or Archana Patkar (WSSCC) +91 982 123 3355

Grassroots Voices: Tuesday 5^th April 11.35 – 1.00pm
Reaching the Unserved: Tuesday 5^th April 2.15 – 3.40pm
Strengthening Monitoring and Accountability: 6^th April 9.15 – 10.40am

Copies of the Declaration of the Pre-SACOSAN IV Consultation Meeting of CSOs, Traffic Lights discussion paper and South Asian People’s Perspective on Sanitation executive summary are available online www.freshwateraction.net/sacosaniv. The full South Asian People’s Perspective on Sanitation report is due to be published next month.

Commitments between SACOSAN meetings are tracked at www.washwatch.org
For the latest news from SACOSAN, please visit: www.freshwateraction.net/sacosaniv

FAN South Asia (FANSA) is a regional network of small and medium sized civil society organisations. FANSA aims to strengthen the engagement of CSOs in policy-making and development initiatives to achieve the international targets on water and sanitation, improve regional cooperation between CSOs of differing perspectives, priorities and skills to increase the number of NGOs to advocate and communicate clearly on water policy issues and the broader agenda.  www.fasasia.net

WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.  The international organisation works in 26 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest communities.  Over the past 30 years, WaterAid has reached 14.38 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 9.4 million people with sanitation. www.wateraid.org

The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), is an international organization that works to improve access to sustainable sanitation, hygiene and water for all people.  It does so by enhancing collaboration among sector agencies and professionals who are working to provide sanitation to the 2.6 billion people without a clean, safe toilet, and the 884 million people without affordable, clean drinking water close at hand.  WSSCC is part of the UN system and contributes to development through knowledge management, advocacy, communications, and the implementation of a sanitation financing facility.  WSSCC supports coalitions in more than 30 countries, and has a broad membership base and a small Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Source .   http://www.freshwateraction.net/sacosaniv

Definition

Access to improved water source is the percentage of population with access to an improved drinking water source in a given year.

Access to improved sanitation is the percentage of population with access to improved sanitation in a given year.

Associated terms

Improved drinking water sources are defined in terms of the types of technology and levels of services that are more likely to provide safe water than unimproved technologies. Improved water sources include household connections, public standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs, and rainwater collections. Unimproved water sources are unprotected wells, unprotected springs, vendor-provided water, bottled water (unless water for other uses is available from an improved source) and tanker truck-provided water.

Reasonable access is broadly defined as the availability of at least 20 liters per person per day from a source within one kilometer of the user’s dwelling.

Sustainable access has two components with respect to water: one stands for environmental sustainability, the other for functional sustainability. The former insists on environmental protection through limiting extraction of water to a capacity below what is actually available. The latter reflects programme sustainability in terms of supply and management.

Improved sanitation facilities facilities are defined in terms of the types of technology and levels of services that are more likely to be sanitary than unimproved technologies. Improved sanitation includes connection to a public sewers, connection to septic systems, pour-flush latrines, simple pit latrines and ventilated improved pit latrines. Not considered as improved sanitation are service or bucket latrines (where excreta is manually removed), public latrines and open latrines.

source  http://www.who.int/whosis/indicators/compendium/2008/2wst/en/

Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH – Course out Line

M Sc Environment (WASH) Specialist / Post Graduate Diploma in WASH.

Vision

Multiple impact of inattention to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene on Human development factors like health, education, poverty and a strong family system has enhanced the attention to this aspect of human life, especially in south Asia and Africa.

At times we feel that this is the largest single factor contributing to our backwardness. Luckily much is also being done to address this issue, though not in a scientific way. The field work is being led by many NGO’s and public sector organizations, based on experience and insufficient knowledge base.

Capacity building in the field has been marked as a real need in this direction in World Water Forum, and follow up meetings at the national and local level.

The objective of this program is to provide youngsters with appropriate knowledge base as field exposure to work in this upcoming profession at all levels and gain an opportunity to rub their shoulders with  WASH specialists at the UN organizations, INGOS , NGO”S and public sector organizations.

This initiative provides them a lead position to help the nation out of poverty, illiteracy, disease and death, rampant in south Asia and Africa.

1         Wash Definitions

1.1        Water

1.2        Sanitation

1.3        Solid waste

1.4        Liquid waste

1.5        Hospital waste

1.6      MDG, (millennium development goals)

2         Socio Economic Impact of WASH

2.1        Disease and death

2.2        Poverty

2.3        Education

2.4        Family time and resources increased

2.5        Human Development Index (HDI)

3         Water

3.1        National Water Policy

3.2        National drinking water policy

3.3        National water quality Standards

3.4        Standards PSQCA, WHO and Ministry of Environment

3.5        How much water daily?

3.6        Role of water in human body, Disease relationship

3.7        Water  quality Issues , Microbiology, Chemical, Arsenic, Fluoride Nitrate and its health impact

3.8        National water Quality Monitoring Program (NWQMP) at Ministry of Science and Technology. (PCRWR)

3.9        Clean drinking water for all Program (CDWA)

3.10    Water issues Quantity and Quality

3.11    Mixing of untreated sewerage water in canals, rivers and ground water

3.12    Availability of affordable and timely water testing facility, in accordance with our own standards.

3.13    Control at water treatment plants

3.14    Controlling the wastage of water at car and domestic floor washing, and garden irrigation

3.15    National water Act (DRAFT)

3.16           Rain Water Harvesting

3.17           House Hold Water Treatment (HWTS)

4         Sanitation

4.1        National Sanitation Policy

4.2        Safe disposal of solid waste

4.3        Segregation

4.4        Recycle

4.5        Land fills

4.6        Disposal of night soil from homes

4.7        Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS)

4.8        Open Defecation Free systems (ODF)

5         Liquid waste

5.1        Safe disposal of domestic waste and industrial waste

5.2        Design of septic tanks

5.3        Connection to sewerage lines

5.4        Treatment of domestic waste water

5.5        Treatment of industrial waste water

5.6        Recycle of treated water

5.7        Check use of untreated water in Perry urban vegetable gardens

5.8        National environment quality standards (NEQS)

5.9        National environment act

6         Hospital waste

6.1        Collection

6.2        Segregation

6.3        Safe disposal sharp and contaminated material

6.4         Training of staff

6.5        Incinerators and

6.6        National hospital waste management practices , Ministry of Environment

7         Hygiene

1.1        Cleaning surroundings

7.1        Body

7.2        Hair cut

7.3        Nails

7.4        Clothes

7.5        Clean hands with soap

7.6        Availability of soap for hand washing in Mosques, Schools and Hospitals

7.7        Female specific Hygiene , use of sun dried clean cotton cloth

7.8        School program for hygiene improvement

8         Emergency

8.1        Pakistan’s experience in Emergency WASH program, in case of Earth Quake, Floods and IDPs.

9          Institutions involved with WASH

9.1        Ministry of Science and Technology

9.2        Ministry of Environment

9.3        Ministry of Special Initiatives

9.4        Ministry of Health

9.5        Ministry of Local Governments

9.6        Ministry of Water

9.7        WASA

9.8        PHED

9.9        TMA

9.10    KDA., LDA, CDA, PDA., QDA, FDA,  and the like

10   Non Government

10.1    NGOS

10.2    INGOs

10.3    UN outfits

10.4    PCRWR

10.5    PCSIR

10.6    PSQCA

10.7    UN

10.8    UNICEF

10.9    WHO

10.10    World Bank WSP

10.11    ADB

10.12    Plan

10.13    Water Aid

10.14    Global water Partnership

10.15    GSF

11   Forum

11.1    World Water Forum

11.2    SACOSAN

11.3    WSSCC

11.4    GSF

11.5    WSP

11.6    Pacosan

12    South Asian Studies

Follow up studies on wash programs in the following countries and a comparison with local initiatives

12.1    Africa

12.2    Bangladesh

12.3    India

12.4    Nepal

12.5    Srilanka

13. Laboratory Work

14. Research Thesis

15. Internship Report

COMPARISON OF AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT

By

Hira Waheed

(07-arid-1088)

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science

in

Environmental Sciences

Department of Environmental Sciences

Faculty of Forestry, Range Management and Wildlife

Pir Mehr Ali Shah

Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi,

Pakistan

2009

ABSTRACT

Water is a basic necessity and is required to run all industrial, domestic and agricultural activities. With an increase in its consumption rate, quantity of wastewater generated on daily basis has also increased. Wastewater handling and it’s conversion into useable form by an effective treatment has become a major challenge of recent era and it needs to be treated because it contains toxic and persistent chemicals and can be a threat to environment if remain untreated. Biological treatment is an environmental friendly technique with its low operational and capital cost. It includes aerobic and anaerobic processes both of which have low energy consumption and low sludge production, thus making biological treatment most suitable. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on activated sludge process (ASP) and up flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) process. Experimental condition i.e. HRT was varied and the effluents were evaluated in terms of pH, color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS) and alkalinity. Reactors in continuous flow mode were operated to treat the wastewater. In the treatment varying concentration of HRT was used in different combinations i. e. 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 hours for aerobic process and 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours for anaerobic process. In ASP, maximum color and COD removal efficiencies of 69 and 60 percent were achieved at HRT of 8 h in case of domestic wastewater treatment.  However, in combined wastewater treatment, optimum color and COD reduction approached 72 and 66 percent at HRT of 24 h in case of UASB process. The results have demonstrated that the color was mainly removed under anaerobic conditions while COD was reduced under aerobic conditions.

SUMMARY

The recent developments in industrial, agricultural and commercial sectors are important causes of high water consumption resulting in large quantity of used water being produced and rejected. In developing countries, where access of safe drinking water is not guaranteed for a majority of the population, it is of great importance to maintain the quality of surface water sources. So there is an urgent need to develop technologies to treat huge volumes of wastewater in shortest possible time frame. Biological treatments like activated sludge process (ASP) and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) are widely used in wastewater treatment plants to reduce effluents levels in contaminated wastewater originating from both the municipal and industrial sectors.

Wastewater used for this study was obtained from domestic, industrial and combined wastewater stream drain from I-9 Islamabad. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on different types of wastewater by applying ASP and UASB process. ASP occurred in two units. An aerated biological reactor, in which microbial activity was used to degrade pollutants, and a settling unit, in which activated sludge settled at the bottom of the unit. While, UASB consisted of an upflow of wastewater through a dense sludge bed with high microbial activity. Experimental condition i.e. HRT was varied and the effluents were evaluated in terms of pH, color, COD, TDS, TSS and alkalinity.

Following conclusions were drawn from the study:

• In case of ASP, at retention time of 6 h, 57, 62 and 35 percent of total COD removal was obtained for domestic, combined and industrial wastewater respectively.
• For domestic, combined and industrial wastewater, UASB rector achieved 52, 53 and 10 percent COD removal at retention time of 12 h.
• Comparatively, aerobic treatment efficiently removed COD value within very short period of time than anaerobic process.
• Color was mainly removed under anaerobic conditions while COD was reduced under aerobic conditions.

Based on these results, it is recommended that

• For the treatment of a combined industrial and domestic wastewater, use an integrated system consisting of a UASB reactor followed by the ASP to produce a good effluent quality.
• An extensive study is suggested to assess the effect of the process conditions such as temperature, sludge granulation, sludge height, organic loading rate (OLR) and mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) on the removal efficiencies of UASB reactor.
• Further more; the biogas generated during anaerobic process adds attraction as it can be used as fuel.

Haircut, nails, dental hygiene, washing of hands after using toilet and

before eating, use of towel, hair comb etc. are important ingredients of

personal hygiene and if taken care of, brings sizable reduction in the

disease burden of a household. But, there a visible lack of emphasis on

personal hygiene by all concerned including our prayer leaders, school

teachers, parents and media.

Pakistan is expected to have an estimated population of 172.8

million in 2010, of which one fourth (25%) are women between the

ages of 10-40 years. On average, this is the active female period.

Women spend about 2100 days of their life menstruating. Somehow,

this process of natural blood flow that ultimately provides the base

for human procreation and development is something that is

supposedly the biggest secret and something of shame for the south

Asian women folk.

Muslim women do not offer their five times prayers in those specific

days and Hindus too have some specific process in these days.

Unfortunately this delivers a wrong signal in our society that this is

something bad and we need to keep this process as confidential as we

can. This becomes all the more predominant in rural settings and

even in urban families of middle income and education backdrop.

The younger girls (10-15 years of age) that is 6% of the population,

are least prepared

for this onset. They are also ignorant of the hygienic

management of the process and its importance vis-à-vis their reproductive

health and hence overall health

Now this less fortunate part of the society which is already marginalized

and has insufficient resources is vulnerable to more hazards when they

handle this particular period with a used piece of cloth of unknown sanitary

quality.

Though clean cotton cloth is still a better choice compared to hygienic but

plastic, air -sealed sanitary pads selling at a high cost.

Females during their specific days have to bear with this situation. Mostly

in rural areas, they use a piece of cotton cloth. Which when washed is kept

in some dark corner of the house so that none sees it. Sun drying is denied

because of it being a taboo thing. When reused without proper cleaning or for

longer durations, it causes diseases. Sanitary pads in vogue also have their own

issues: hygienic and disposal. Apad of cotton cloth which if clean and sun dried

will be the best choice as for the absorption goes. The secrecy taboo seriously

discourages the washing and sun drying process.

We have some major issues associated with this which are as follows:

Many women are suffering from Vagitinitus due to poor attention to the women

specific sanitary care , at certain stage. Unfortunately poor and less educated

class falls as a bigger prey to this trap. This further aggravates their health and

happiness quality,

Not having reasonable sanitary provisions like separate toilets at schools and

work places cause extra dropout rate for female students, thus adding to the

already high less educated and/or illiterate mothers . This deprives us as a nation

of having ‘educated mother, educated family’ concept privilege.

Not having separate/ safe toilets at work places and factories discourages quite a

bunch of women not working at all or absenting/ holidaying during periods thus

depriving the family of a possible source of additional income.

The solution to this issue could be:

1.

increasing awareness about the issue,

2.

accepting it as a natural process and very important to female adult life.

3.

Emphasizing the need to keep this process clean and hygienic

4.

Using washed and sun dried cotton cloth and

5.

Avoiding the costly sanitary pads and even thebaby nappies.

Cotton Cloth sanitary pads, as a source of livelihood.

Preparing and selling clean cotton pads could be a low investment project for

rural women/ men , that could be a source of earning livelihood for the family and

improving the health of our women and hence the generation to come