Sanitation

Overcrowding helps infectious diseases spread, while unsafe water and poor sanitation increase the need for healthcare. Services are therefore under greatest pressure where health risks are already high.

Water collected from a river or another untreated source can contain harmful bacteria, particularly where sanitation is inadequate and human or animal waste enters the water.

In Dharavi, some new arrivals build homes on marginal land near water pipes and waste. Such housing lacks planned water and sanitation connections. Low-lying sites become particularly difficult to live on during the wet monsoon season, when flooding can worsen already poor conditions.

In Makoko, many homes stand on wooden stilts over the water. This allows people to live in a water-bound setting, but does not remove the challenges of flooding, sanitation or access to services.