How do we track access to sanitation globally? Zach will discuss the human right to water in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 6. Thinking critically about the definitions used for the terms ‘safe’, ‘accessible’, ‘affordable’ and ‘equitable,’ he will review the progress in the last two decades when it comes to sanitation, for different regions of the world and for India in particular.
Zach will then apply notions of access, equity and sustainability to evaluate sanitation upgrades in India. He will draw on data collected in the field, utilising both quantitative and qualitative sources, and looking at the tension between resource management and equity of access.
The speaker will also explore the potential impacts on equity in upgrades to the sanitation system in Hubli-Dharwad. He will explore what are the major sources of contamination from faecal wastes, and who are exposed, using a modified ‘shit-flow diagram’ (SFD) and will then explore different options for waste treatment, reuse and disposal, and the challenges of sustainable liquid waste management in Hubli-Dharwad.
The talk will be moderated by Arkaja Singh, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research.
About the speaker
Dr Zachary Burt is currently a Visiting Research Fellow with the Columbia Global Centers, Mumbai and at IIT Bombay on a Fulbright-Nehru scholarship. At Columbia University, Dr Burt is researching efficient, effective and equitable ways of incorporating climate risk into urban water management policy. He has conducted field research in India, Tanzania, Kenya, and Morocco, and assessed urban water policies in California, India and Kenya. He has researched the costs and benefits of urban water service improvements, willingness to pay for household water treatment and gender inequities in sanitation access. He earned his PhD at the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.
The seminar is open to all. You are requested to RSVP at sci-fi@cprindia.org
CORP Seminar Series
This is the 15th in a series of the Community of Research and Practice (CORP) seminar planned by the Scaling City Institution for India: Sanitation (SCI-FI: Sanitation) initiative. This seminar series seeks to provide a platform for discussing the experiences of the researchers and practitioners on urban sanitation.