The India Sanitation Portal is an open, inclusive, web-based platform for sharing sanitation knowledge amongst practitioners and the general public.

India Sanitation Portal was launched at SACOSAN in November 2008, by the then Speaker of the Lok Sabha Shri Somnath Chatterjee.

The Sanitation Portal was conceived as a collaborative effort between several organisations in the sector. Arghyam, WaterAid, WASH Institute, WES-Net, UNICEF, Wherever the Need, Water for People, SEI, PLAN India, Water and Sanitation Program have all been part of the discussions about the Sanitation Portal at some point. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), Government of India has also endorsed the Sanitation Portal, through the launch at SACOSAN. The need at this point is to take the Portal beyond what was launched at SACOSAN, and make it a much more vibrant and useful resource for the sector.

The Sanitation Portal grew out of the felt need for a single location pulling together various resources in the area of water.

It aims to draw on the rich experience of sanitation-sector experts, package their knowledge and add value to it through technology and then disseminate it to a larger audience through the internet.

We see the knowledge asymmetry amongst stakeholders of the sanitation sector as a critical factor hampering the sustainable management of our water resources. The Portal seeks to address this asymmetry by sharing best practices, advocating sustainable approaches, bringing transparency of public data and information, and by spreading awareness.

The ultimate objective of the Portal is to address equity and sustainability issues in the Sanitation Sector. We believe that the India Sanitation Portal has the potential to catalyse change on a large-scale by this sharing of knowledge leading to improved practices and informed debates.

We are keen to involve many more partners to expand the knowledge base and the reach in the water sector. If you are working in the Sanitation sector and would like to join us, please do contact us at