Improved water supply and sanitation are directly strengthening public health in India’s towns and cities, especially for people living in informal settlements and underserved slums. When urban WASH services are reliable, inclusive and safe, families face fewer waterborne diseases, children miss fewer school days, and communities are better able to withstand health shocks.
Why water and sanitation matter for health
WaterAid India’s Urban WASH page explains that clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are fundamental to preventing diarrhoeal diseases, parasitic infections and other illnesses that hit the urban poor hardest. By reducing open defecation and unsafe waste disposal, improved sanitation also cuts environmental contamination, making whole neighbourhoods healthier places to live and work.
Across its programmes, WaterAid India highlights that safe WASH services break the cycle where frequent illness leads to lost income, higher medical costs and malnutrition, particularly among children.
How urban WASH is improving services
On its Urban WASH page, WaterAid India describes a holistic, city‑wide approach that works with people living in informal settlements so their needs are reflected when new services are planned and monitored The organisation helps build community‑level models around clean water and decent toilets, supports local groups like Basti Vikas Manch, Mohalla Samiti and Nari Nirmal Awas Samiti, and provides technical support to municipalities for faecal sludge management.
These efforts have enabled innovations that extend water, sanitation and hygiene services to unauthorised slums in cities such as Ujjain and Bhopal, with a particular focus on homeless people and migrants who are often excluded from formal systems.
Community leadership and healthier neighbourhoods
WaterAid India notes that strong community cadres in Delhi, Bhopal, Ujjain and Hyderabad have been crucial in demanding and sustaining services like standposts, toilets and public or mobile facilities that are clean and well‑managed. Citizen monitoring in these cities is being strengthened so residents can track where services are lacking and press authorities for improvements, which over time leads to safer environments and reduced disease burden.
At the national level, WaterAid India reports that in 2024–25 it reached 2,70,479 people with clean and safe drinking water, 6,44,158 people with access to safe sanitation and over 1,04,983 people with hygiene education—figures that translate into fewer infections and stronger, more resilient communities.
WASH as a foundation for strong health systems
In its publication “Water, sanitation and hygiene: A foundation of strong, resilient health systems”, WaterAid shows that WASH is essential for infection prevention and control and for building systems that can cope with crises such as pandemics and climate‑related shocks. While this report focuses on healthcare facilities, the same principles apply in urban neighbourhoods: reliable water, safely managed sanitation and good hygiene behaviours are prerequisites for protecting both community and national health.
WaterAid India’s “What we do” overview reinforces that clean water and safely managed sanitation are core to reducing preventable diseases, supporting nutrition, and achieving wider development goals.