Nearly one quarter of Russians lack access to sewerage systems
In modern Russia, 22.6% of the population does not have access to centralized sewerage systems, according to a survey performed by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) in September 2018. The investigation into the quality of life in Russia showed that most of these families (16.8%) use a pipe to a pit latrine, and 5.8% of Russians simply lack any sewerage system.
There is no centralized sewerage system for 66.5% of Russians residing in rural areas (half of them use pit latrines and one fifth do not have access to any system). In cities, where Russians primarily live in apartment buildings, the situation is better – only 9% of city dwellers reported a lack of access.
The rural population does not have sewerage systems, a normal water supply, and effectively lacks any centralized gas supply, observes Yevgeny Blekh, deputy director of housing and public utilities at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Blekh says that the utilities for towns in rural areas are given the lowest priority for financing. “This is how it was, is, and will be for years to come,” the expert laments.
Rosstat notes that the situation has improved slightly in the last few years – in 2016, 23.6% of the population had no access to sewerage facilities, with 16.5% using pit latrines and 7.1% lacking any such facilities. 73% of the country had access to sewerage systems in 2014, 77% between 2015-2016, and 78% in 2017.
According to the international organization WaterAid, 23% of Russians living in cities lack access to safe, private toilets, making Russia the fifth worst for this indicator after India, China, Nigeria and Indonesia. The situation in Russia is worse than in Bangladesh, the Republic of the Congo, and Brazil.