SANITATION – OUR MAPS

Overlaying ward boundaries in the city with public toilets, which we have only mapped in Zone 4, creates the map above. On this map, clicking on a toilet gives you both basic information about the toilet as well as the name and contact information of the local councilor. We hope that providing and creating links between basic infrastructure and elected representatives will increase their accountability to maintain quality levels in this infrastructure. Once Transparent Chennai finishes mapping all toilets in the city, wards without toilets will also be immediately visible, and councilors can be alerted about these gaps. We hope to finish mapping all toilets in the city by the end of 2011 with the help of volunteers and interns. Please do contact us if you are interested in being involved in this process.

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The map above shows data digitized from the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board’s 2005 survey of undeclared slums in the city, mapped against our manual survey of toilets in Zone 4. Undeclared slums are those that are not officially recognized as slums under the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Act. The city of Chennai underwent two rounds of slum declarations, one in 1971 and one in 1986, and has not declared any new slums since then, so there are a number of unrecognized slums in the city that have come up since then. Since the city can only officially invest in environmental improvements for recognized or declared slums, undeclared slums can be assumed to be areas of poor access to basic services, and areas of obvious need for sanitation in the city. Yet, the map reveals that there are many toilets where no slums exist at all. Although toilets are needed in many public places besides slum areas, this map suggests that prioritization of areas of highest need for sanitation has not been done before public toilets have been constructed.