Contains info on Housing standards and its types esp in India, rural housing standards and household waste disposal

1. ENVIRONMENT
&
HOUSING
G r o u p B
1Dept. of Community Medicine

2. CONTENTS
•Housing & its types
•Housing standards in
India
•Rural housing standards
•Household waste
disposal
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3. HOUSING
• 'Housing", in the modern concept includes not only the 'physical
structure' providing shelter, but also the immediate surroundings,,
and the related community services and facilities.
• A WHO Expert Group (1961) on public health aspects of housing
prefers to use the term "residential environment" which is defined
as the physical structure that man uses and the environs of the
structure including all necessary services, facilities, equipment and
devices needed or desired for the physical and mental health and
the social well-being of the family and the individual
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4. Location: The house should be located on
dry, non-caving ground, having an independent
unit and should be nearer to shopping place,
recreational facilities, educational centers,
emergency services and transport system.
Construction: The house should be so
strongly constructed as to withstand the
vagaries of nature such as landslide, floods or
earth-quake, etc. and also it should be safe
and secured.
REQUIREMENTS OF A HOUSE
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5. Sanitation: From the point of view of health,
there should not be overcrowding and there
must be sufficient light and ventilation,
sufficient water supply and proper
arrangements for drainage of liquid waste in
the house. Provision should be made for
insect proofing and rodent proofing also.
Cleanliness to be maintained in and around the
house.
Comfortable house-life: For this, there must
be ideally separate kitchen, store room, bed
rooms, a common living room for the entire
family and a corridor.
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6. The standards recommended in India the EHC (1947) are as follows:
1. Site selection:
 The site should be elevated from its surroundings so that it is not subject to
flooding during rains.
 The site should have an independent access to a street of adequate width.
 It should be away from the breeding places of mosquitoes and flies.
 It should be away from nuisances such as dust, smoke, smell, excessive noise and
traffic.
 It should be in pleasing surroundings.
 The soil should be dry and safe for founding the structure and should be well
drained. "Made-soil", i.e., ground that is levelled by dumping refuse is very
unsatisfactory for building purposes for at least 20 to 25 years. The subsoil water
should be below 10 feet (3 metres).
HOUSING STANDARDS IN INDIA
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7. 1. Foundation:
 This must always be solid and substantial. The foundation is laid with a bed of
cement concrete over the stones to cover the trench .The object is to prevent
subsidence of the building.
 The width of the foundation should never be less than 25 inches. In addition to
this bed of concrete a layer of impervious material known as ‘damp proof course’
should be laid horizontally, along the entire thickness of each wall at plinth level.
This prevent the upward progress of the moisture.
2. Floors: The floor should be pucca and satisfy the following criteria:
 It should be impermeable so that it can be easily washed and kept clean and dry.
Mud floors tend to break up and cause dust; they are not recommended.
 The floor must be smooth and free from cracks and crevices to prevent the
breeding of insects and harbourage of dust.
 The floors should be damp- proof.
 The height of the plinth should be 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 1 metre).
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8. 3. FLOOR AREA:
 The floor area of a living room should be at least 120 sq.ft. (12 sq. m.) for occupancy by more than
one person and at least 100 sq.ft. (10 sq. m.) for occupancy by a single person.
 The floor area available in living rooms per person should not be less than 50 sq.ft; the optimum is
100 sq.ft.
4. Walls:
 The walls are constructed with cement and bricks or stones ,with a minimum thickness of 9 inches
, obtained by laying the bricks, lengthwise and crosswise in alternate layers.
 The walls are then plastered so that it should neither absorb heat nor it should conduct the heat.
 Painting of the walls render the surface impervious and enables easy wash.
5. CUBIC SPACE:
 Unless means are provided for mechanical replacement of air the height of rooms should be such
as to give an air space of at least 500 c.ft. per capita, preferably 1,000 c.ft.
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9. 6. ROOMS:-
 The number of living rooms should not be less than two, at
least one of which can be closed for security. The other may
be open on one side if that side is a private courtyard.-
 The number and area of rooms should be increased according
to size of family, so that the recommended floor space per
person may be made available.
7. ROOF:
 Flat roof should have sufficient slope to drain rain water
.Height of the roof should not be less than 10 feet ,as the heat
radiated from the roofs is in inverse ratio to the square of its
distance.
 Sloping roofs may be either of tiles, slates, thatch ,corrugated
iron, asbestos, etc. A double roof with a space between will
make a very cool covering to a dwelling.
8. LIGHTING:
 The daylight factor should exceed 1% over half the floor area.
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10. 9. KITCHEN: Every dwelling house must have a separate kitchen.-The kitchen
must be protected against dust and smoke; adequately lighted; provided
with arrangements for storing food, fuel and provisions; provided with water
supply; provided with a sink for washing utensils and fitted with
arrangements for proper drainage.-The floor of the kitchen must be
impervious.
10. PRIVY: A sanitary privy is a MUST in every house, belonging exclusively to it
and readily accessible.-In the more developed areas of the world, the
majority of dwelling units are equipped with water carriage systems.
11. GARBAGE AND REFUSE: These should be removed from the dwelling at least
daily and disposed off in a sanitary manner.
12. BATHING AND WASHING: The house should have facilities for bathing and
washing belonging exclusively to it and providing proper privacy.
13. WATER SUPPLY: The house should have a safe and adequate water supply
available at all times.
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11. The following minimum standards have been suggested:
a) There should be atleast two living rooms
b) Ample verandah space may be provided
c) The built up area should not exceed one-third of the
total area
d) there must be sufficient space around the house for
adequate lighting and ventilation.
e) The area of doors and windows should be about 25
percent of the floor area preferably two living room
atleast.
f) There should be a separate kitchen with a paved sink
or platform for washing utensils
g) The house should be provided with a sanitary latrine
STANDARDS OF RURAL HOUSING
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12. h) The window area should be at least 10 percent of the floor area
i) There should be a sanitary well or a tube well within a quarter of a mile from the
house
j) Soakage pit for disposal of sullage water coming from bathroom and kitchen.
k) The house should be provided with RCA latrine.
l) It is insanitary to keep cattle and livestock in dwelling houses. Cattle sheds should
be at least 25 feet away from dwelling houses. A cattle shed should be open on all
sides, an area 8 ft.- 4ft is sufficient for each head of cattle
m) There should be adequate arrangement for the disposal of waste water, refuse and
garbage.
n) the source of water should be within the reach of about 400 metres.
o) There must be manure pit arrangements for the disposal of kitchen waste and
domestic refuse.
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13. Domestic waste consists of ash, rubbish (pieces of paper,
clothes, wood, metal, glass, dust and dirt) and garbage (waste
arising from kitchen such as peelings of vegetables, waste food,
rotten fruits and vegetables and other organic matter)
1. Methods of disposal are-
a. DUMPING-Refuse is dumped in low lying areas partly as a
method of reclamation of land but mainly as an early
method of disposal of dry refuse. As a result of bacterial
action, refuse decreases considerably in volume and is
converted gradually into humus.
b. CONTROLLED TIPPING- Controlled tipping or sanitary
landfill is the most satisfactory method of refuse disposal
where suitable land is available. It differs from ordinary
dumping in that the material is placed in a trench and other
prepared area adequately compacted and covered with
earth at the end of working day.
VARIOUS WAYS OF HOUSEHOLD WASTE
DISPOSAL
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14. c. INCINERATION: Refuse can be disposed of
hygienically by burning or incineration. It is the
method of choice where suitable land is not
available.
d. COMPOSTING: In this method, the refuse is
disposed off along with night soil or sewage.There
are two methods- Biological and mechanical.
e. MANURE PITS: This method is preferred in rural
areas where collection and removal system of
refuse is absent. The individual householder
should have a manure pit where the daily
domestic refuse is dumped and covered with
earth after each day's dumping.
f. BURIAL: This is suitable for small camps. This is
also the same as trench method but in trenches
only the refuse is dumped and not the human
excreta. At the end of each day, the refuse is
covered with earth.
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15. 2. METHODS OF DISPOSAL OF EXCRETA:
• This depends upon the availability of
underground drainage system( sewage
system)
• In unsewered areas disposal is made in situ
by the use of different type of sanitary
latrines, biogas plant and composting.
• In sewered areas, the night soil is transported
by water carriage system to the point of
disposal.
3. DISPOSAL OF SULLAGE: Sullage is the water
coming from kitchen and bathroom. It is disposed
by the following methods
• Previous pits such as soakage pit.
• Impervious pit or nonsoakage pits such as
septic tank.
• Surface irrigation such as kitchen garden.
• Underground drainage or sewerage system.
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16. 4. E-WASTE DISPOSAL: done by following methods -
• RECYCLING: It is defined as assembling, developing,
promoting or buying new products, which are
prepared from waste products.
• LANDFILLING: This consists of dumping and/or burial
of the E-waste.The disadvantages are that the
materials like mercury, cadmium etc. leaches into the
soil polluting the ground water. So, it is not a safe
method.
• INCINERATION: In this method, the e-waste is burnt in
a specially designed incinerators at a high temperature
of about 1000°C. It is a complete combustion process.
• REUSING: This consists of direct use of equipment or
using it after slight modification. Eg- Computers, cell
phones etc. This method reduces the volume of
generation of e-waste and there is no wastage of time
and money.
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• K Park’s PSM
• A H Suryakantha’s PSM
• www.bing.com/images
References