Theme 3 — Planning Shared Sanitation for Different Places and Populations
From individual facilities to integrated sanitation systems
Sulabh International's extensive experience in public and community sanitation gives the Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak Research Foundation a distinctive foundation for research in this field.
This programme moves the focus from isolated toilet blocks to integrated sanitation systems. It studies how shared sanitation should be planned, located and configured for different urban environments and user populations — examining the relationship between sanitation infrastructure, settlement patterns, public mobility, demand, water availability and the safe management of wastewater and faecal sludge.
The aim is to develop evidence for public, community and institutional sanitation systems that are context-responsive, inclusive, environmentally safe and capable of serving different levels of demand.
The central research question is: How should cities and institutions plan networks of public and community sanitation services so that different populations can reach and use an appropriate, safe and inclusive facility when and where they need it?
Public and community toilets are used in very different environments. A facility serving a residential settlement cannot be planned in the same way as one located at a railway station, market, hospital, school or pilgrimage centre.
The programme therefore studies the complete planning and service system:
Population and place → demand and accessibility → facility type and configuration → water and waste connections → institutional responsibility → citywide service coverage
Research will compare different settlement types, facility categories, population groups and patterns of use to determine which sanitation arrangements are most appropriate for each context.
Transport hubs, markets, commercial areas, hospitals, tourist destinations and pilgrimage centres experience fluctuating and sometimes extreme levels of demand. Research will examine hourly, daily and seasonal footfall, peak demand and queue formation, appropriate numbers and ratios of toilet seats, space requirements and circulation patterns, water demand and wastewater generation, facilities for bathing, handwashing and menstrual hygiene, temporary and surge sanitation during festivals and events, and integration with onsite or decentralised treatment. The objective is to develop location-specific planning models rather than applying a standard toilet design to every setting.
Community sanitation remains important where household toilets are constrained by space, insecure tenure, water scarcity, high groundwater or the absence of sewer networks. Research will investigate settlement density and household distribution, walking distance and physical accessibility, land availability, water supply conditions, flood and groundwater risks, appropriate containment and treatment options, connections between community toilets and bathing or washing facilities, and cluster-based sanitation arrangements.
Schools, healthcare facilities, workplaces and social institutions have distinct sanitation requirements. Research covers age-appropriate facilities and menstrual hygiene spaces in schools, infection-sensitive layouts and continuous water needs in healthcare facilities, and sanitation provision for markets, construction sites, industrial areas and street-vending zones.
Cities frequently count the total number of public toilets without determining whether those facilities are located where people actually need them. Research will study the spatial relationship between toilet provision and residential density, informal settlements, transport hubs, markets, hospitals, parks, schools, pilgrimage sites, night-time commercial areas and homeless populations. Output: A Citywide Public Sanitation Access and Equity Atlas combining GIS catchment mapping, pedestrian-route analysis, footfall, opening hours, facility functionality and underserved-population mapping.
A railway-station toilet, a neighbourhood community toilet and a hospital sanitation block should not be treated as variations of the same facility. Research will develop a national typology covering transit sanitation, commercial sanitation, neighbourhood community sanitation, institutional sanitation, public-space sanitation, pilgrimage and mass-gathering sanitation, and emergency and humanitarian sanitation — with separate variables for resident versus transient users, average and peak demand, operating hours, gender composition, bathing requirements, accessibility, water and land availability.
Public toilets are often commissioned individually through separate projects, creating fragmented city systems. Research will study how individual facilities can be organised as a citywide sanitation network — examining which facilities should operate continuously, whether nearby facilities can share supervisors and treatment systems, how municipal dashboards can display functionality and opening hours, and which agency should be accountable for overall geographic coverage.
Facility design should be derived from who will use it, when they will use it and what services they require. Research will compare Indian and Western toilet seats, female-to-male seat ratios, urinal provision, bathing and changing stalls, child-friendly toilets, accessible cubicles, caregiver and family toilets, transgender-inclusive provision, menstrual-material and waste facilities, and baby-changing spaces.
A 2024 systematic review covering 167 publications estimated that shared sanitation was used by approximately 67% of residents in the informal settlements represented in the available evidence. Research will determine the conditions under which professionally managed shared sanitation can provide a safe and dignified service — examining households per seat, peak morning and evening demand, access arrangements, women's and children's needs, land and treatment models in dense settlements, and when community facilities should be replaced by household sanitation.
Average daily demand is inadequate for designing facilities at railway stations, markets, pilgrimage centres and mass gatherings. Research will measure maximum users per 15 minutes and per hour, gender-disaggregated queue lengths, seasonal and festival demand, water storage requirements, modular additional capacity and post-event waste management.
Schools, healthcare facilities and workplaces must be researched separately because governance, users, operating patterns and health risks differ. Research covers student-to-seat ratios, peak use during school breaks, age-appropriate design, menstrual health, water continuity, functionality after handover for schools; uninterrupted sanitation, infection prevention, maternity and paediatric needs, and safe wastewater management for healthcare; and access for vendors, informal workers, construction workers and night-shift workers for workplaces.
Research will examine whether the absence of toilets restricts women's travel or working hours, whether women's entrances are visible but private, whether queues are significantly longer for women, whether the path to the facility is safe after dark, whether persons with disabilities can independently use the facility, and whether menstrual materials and covered disposal systems are consistently available.
Every public or community facility must be connected to an appropriate system for water supply, drainage, containment, sewer connection or onsite treatment, scheduled desludging, sludge transportation, wastewater and sludge treatment, reuse or safe disposal, and menstrual and solid waste. Research will document these connections for each facility type.
Public sanitation systems are exposed to flooding, sewer backflow, high groundwater, drought and water scarcity, heatwaves, electricity failure, extreme rainfall and population displacement. Research will assess elevation and flood protection, backup water, low-water operating modes, alternative power, modular capacity, emergency containment and post-disaster cleaning.
Research will test geotagged facility registries, live opening-status information, footfall monitoring, water and power alerts, QR complaints, cleaning verification, accessible-route information and public dashboards — always verified through physical inspections and user research.
Cardone, R., Schrecongost, A. and Gilsdorf, R. (2018). Shared and Public Toilets: Championing Delivery Models That Work. World Bank.
The principal international guide to planning and implementing shared, communal and public sanitation from the perspectives of users, providers and public authorities.
View reportWorld Bank. Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Initiative.
Provides the framework for equitable citywide sanitation using appropriate combinations of household, shared, public, onsite, decentralised and sewered services.
View sourceWorld Health Organization. (2018). Guidelines on Sanitation and Health.
Establishes that sanitation interventions must protect health across the complete sanitation chain and be supported by local risk assessment, monitoring and institutional responsibility.
View guidelinesInternational Labour Organization, WaterAid, World Health Organization and World Bank. (2019). Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers: An Initial Assessment.
View reportCentral Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation. (2018). Advisory on Public and Community Toilets.
The principal Indian planning and design reference covering transit, institutional, public-space, community and event-linked toilets.
View advisoryMinistry of Housing and Urban Affairs. (2021). Swachh Bharat Mission–Urban 2.0 Operational Guidelines.
View guidelinesMinistry of Housing and Urban Affairs. (2024). Clean Toilets Campaign 2024: Campaign Guidelines.
Focused on cleaning, maintenance, functionality and improvement of community and public toilets across more than 70,000 facilities.
View guidelinesMinistry of Housing and Urban Affairs. (2025). Swachh Survekshan 2025–26 Toolkit.
View toolkitMinistry of Housing and Urban Affairs. (2023). Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Guidelines for AMRUT 2.0.
Supports vulnerable-population mapping, participatory planning, disability inclusion and gender-responsive infrastructure.
View guidelinesSprouse, L., et al. (2024). Shared sanitation in informal settlements: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence, preferences, and quality. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 260, 114392.
Synthesises 167 publications and identifies cleanliness, safety, privacy, lighting, access, menstrual-health facilities and management quality as critical.
View articleLebu, S., et al. (2024). Indicators for evaluating shared sanitation quality. npj Clean Water, 7.
Proposes measurable indicators covering users, cleanliness, accessibility, privacy, safety, location, water, handwashing and management.
View articleO'Reilly, K. and Budds, J. (2023). Sanitation citizenship: State expectations and community practices of shared toilet use and maintenance in urban India. Environment and Urbanization, 35(1).
Shows how water shortages, poor repair, limited opening hours and inadequate maintenance cause declining use and abandonment of shared facilities.
View articleWorld Health Organization and UNICEF. (2024). Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools 2015–2023: Special Focus on Menstrual Health.
View reportWorld Health Organization and UNICEF. (2025). Essential Services for Quality Care: WASH, Waste and Electricity in Healthcare Facilities.
View reportPhotographs from the field will be added to this page soon.