Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) poverty in India: A district-level geospatial assessment

The assessment of drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) poverty among Indian districts is essential to accomplish the UN-Sustainable Development Goal 06, 'Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for all', by 2030. The present study aimed to construct district-level WASH poverty indices combining various indicators of drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in two ways: ignoring and considering the geographical inequality. The study also focused on outlining the spatial dependence and heterogeneity of drinking water, sanitation, hygiene poverty, and overall level of WASH poverty among Indian districts using Moran's I statistics. The results showed moderate to very high spatial dependence of every dimension of WASH poverty among Indian districts. The study also identified clusters of districts situated over central and eastern Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, stricken with a higher level of WASH poverty. Alternatively, clusters of districts situated along the western coastal area, Capital City Delhi, and its neighboring states were identified with a relatively lower level of WASH poverty. The study suggests more government initiatives and investments for improving WASH conditions in central and eastern Indian districts to fulfill SDG 06 and reduce spatial inequality within the country (SDG 10).