Odisha and Jharkhand share the dubious distinction of being the states with the highest number of people who defecate in the open — nearly 37 million people in the two eastern states have no access to toilets. The 2011 census data for water and sanitation says that 78 percent of the households in Odisha are without a toilet. Based on the figure, Water Initiatives Odisha, an NGO, has arrived at the ‘37 million’ shame for the state — and that’s a whopping 90 percent of the state population.

Census data shows that out of a total of 96,61,085 households, 75,35,646 do not have toilets. Considering an average family size of 5, WIO calculated the number of people without an acess to toilet to be 3,76,78,230.

The problem is the most acute in rural areas where nearly 86 percent of the households do not have a toilet. Over 35 percent of the households in urban areas share the fate.

Tap water is available in only 13.8 percent households in the state while the rest depend on wells (19.5 percent), handpumps and tube wells (61.4 percent) and other sources (5.2 percent). The decadal trend has shown a decrease of dependence on well by 9.1 points and that of ‘other sources’ by 2.1 points.  However, the increase in provisioning of tap water that has increased by only 6.1 points compared to the figure of 2001. Only 7.5 per cent of householdsin the rural parts have tap water.  In a state constantly in the news for outbreaks of water-borne diseases, only 10 percent of the water used for drinking is treated. Besides, a meagre 11 per cent of all the wells used for drinking water are covered. 

Water access also seems to be one of the lingering problems in the state — 77.6 percent of the households fetch water for consumption from outside sources while the rest have sources within the premises of the house.