The Public Health Acts of 1845 and 1875 and The Royal Commission of 1989 initiated civic action in sewage collection and treatment. Today we have come a long way from Chadwick's time in the treatment of sewage and other wastes, with these processes becoming highly automated and specialized. The situation is quite dismal on the sanitation front in India. Flush-toilets and underground sewerage systems are taken for granted by many in urban areas. In cities too, sanitation and waste water disposal are often the last facilities to be laid out in the process of city planning.
Sewage treatment is often a tardy and incomplete process.
In villages and small towns, the situation is worse. Recent attempts of the government to introduce ' shauchalaya ' in different districts is making rather slow progress where sanitation is viewed as a convenience, and not as a measure which promotes good health. In 1970, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak founded the Sulabh Shauchalaya Sansthan , later named Sulabh International. The primary objective of this organization is to prevent environmental pollution by promoting low-cost sanitation facilities. Equally important, this movement has freed lakhs of people from the humiliating scavenging job imposed on them by a cruel societal order.