Water and Public Health

How can we rethink urban habitats from the fear of the ‘other’ to sharing collective space?

By March 2020, the words ‘Covid-19’ and ‘Pandemic’ were a part of our everyday vocabulary. The country went into a severe national lockdown and social distancing, wearing a mask and hand washing were part of the precautions we were asked to observe. However, it soon became obvious that the large majority of our population did not have access to safe water or sanitation nor could they work from home in a digitally-enabled world. Our rich water heritage, the livelihoods that depend on water, our practices of faith and culture intersecting with freshwater, stood silent. It was in this silence that we realised the value of community managed water systems, the alienation caused by the convenience of piped water supply systems and the lack of inclusive public health infrastructure. In this gallery we explore the history of public health in Mumbai from the lens of waterborne disease and look at the intersection of Covid-19 hotspots with the most vulnerable informal settlements in the city.