The proportion of Indian households with access to a toilet has grown considerably over the past decade. Many of these toilets rely on on-site containment, either in the form of a septic tank or soak pit. If the waste from these containers is not removed using some type of mechanized method, it can overflow into drains before flowing into treatment facilities or being discharged into water bodies. Therefore, drains are a critical part of the sanitation chain. What remains unknown, however, is what types of drains are available to households in India. Understanding this is critical given that people are at a greater risk of ingesting contaminated water and making dermal contact with pathogens if waste flows in open drains. For the first time, India’s National Family Health Survey from 2019–2021 contains data on the type of drainage available to households. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of households relying on no drainage, open drainage, drains to soak pits, and closed drainage. We also estimate these prevalence values for each of India’s 720 districts and by urban/rural communities to understand the geographic clustering of drainage types throughout India. Overall, we found that the most common drainage type was open drains (37.5% | 95% CI: 37.3–37.6), followed by closed drains (33.9% | 95% CI: 33.7–34.0). The household prevalence of open drainage was above 42% in more than half of India’s 720 districts. Similarly, the household prevalence of closed drainage was below 24% in more than half of India’s 720 districts. We also found that open drains were more common in rural communities, while closed drains were more common in urban communities. We also found a socioeconomic gradient in terms of drainage types, with those lower on the socioeconomic spectrum more likely to have open drains or no drainage. Our results underscore the need to both geographically and socioeconomically target interventions that ensure households have access to adequate drainage. Doing so is vital to remove contamination from the environment as a means of preventing morbidity.

过去十年，印度拥有厕所的家庭比例大幅增长。许多厕所都依赖于现场遏制，要么是化粪池，要么是浸泡坑。如果不使用某种机械化方法清除这些容器中的废物，它们可能会在流入处理设施或排入水体之前溢出到排水沟中。因此，排水沟是卫生链的重要组成部分。然而，目前尚不清楚的是印度家庭可以使用哪些类型的排水管。了解这一点至关重要，因为如果废物流入露天排水沟，人们摄入受污染的水并与病原体进行皮肤接触的风险更大。印度 2019-2021 年全国家庭健康调查首次包含了家庭可用排水系统类型的数据。因此，本文的目的是估算家庭依赖无排水、露天排水、排水至浸泡坑和封闭排水的流行率。我们还估计了印度 720 个地区和城市/农村社区的患病率值，以了解整个印度排水类型的地理集群。总体而言，我们发现最常见的排水类型是开放式排水管（37.5% | 95% CI：37.3–37.6），其次是封闭式排水管（33.9% | 95% CI：33.7–34.0）。在印度 720 个地区中，一半以上的家庭露天排水系统普及率超过 42%。同样，在印度 720 个地区的一半以上，家庭封闭式排水系统的普及率低于 24%。我们还发现，开放式排水沟在农村社区更为常见，而封闭式排水沟在城市社区更为常见。 我们还发现排水系统类型存在社会经济梯度，社会经济水平较低的人更有可能拥有开放式排水系统或没有排水系统。我们的结果强调需要从地理和社会经济角度采取针对性干预措施，以确保家庭能够获得充足的排水系统。这样做对于消除环境污染作为预防发病的手段至关重要。