Across India, patchy supply raises risk of contamination in water line

Since late December, at least 10 people have died and many have fallen ill from consuming contaminated drinking water in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area, following which test reports of the water samples confirmed the tap water was a cocktail of deadly pathogens, including E coli, salmonella and vibrio cholerae bacteria among others.

- Soumya Chatterjee

The incident has surprised many, given Indore has been projected as a as a strong performer in municipal administration, especially in solid waste management, at a time when most urban local bodies across the country struggle with basic service delivery.

However, experts said the Indore tragedy is not an isolated malfunction, but a symptom of longstanding structural issues in India’s urban water supply models, particularly the absence of pressurised 24x7 water supply systems.

HT has reported several incidents of piped water contamination in recent months, including Sector 70A of Gurgaon in December, Pune’s Bavdhan, Bhusari Colony and Bhugaon areas in October, and Delhi's Janakpuri and Vasant Kunj in September, the former for the fourth time in five months. While not technically urban, almost at the same time as the Indore tragedy, two people died in Karlambakkam Colony in Tiruvallur district near Chennai due to contaminated drinking water, highlighting how fragile water safety remains even on the fringes of major cities.

Intermittent supply, worn-out pipes

Srinivas Chary Vedala, former director at the Centre of Excellence in urban governance and environment at the Administrative Staff College of India, explained that intermittent supply creates the conditions for contamination. “When water flows only for limited hours, distribution pipes run empty for long stretches. That negative pressure draws in contaminated groundwater or sewage through cracks in old pipes,” he said.

Contamination occurs not only within the distribution network but also inside homes, where residents are forced to store water in containers that are prone to secondary contamination. “This is a predictable outcome of intermittent systems, rather than a rare anomaly,” he added.