The deaths of at least ten people linked to contaminated drinking water in Indore have once again brought focus to warnings that were raised nearly a decade ago about sewage mixing with the city’s water supply. A report prepared during 2016–17 by the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board had already highlighted serious faecal contamination in several neighbourhoods, clearly indicating that the risk to public health was known long before the recent tragedy but was not adequately addressed.
Ground-level surveys and investigations conducted by the pollution control board during that period confirmed widespread groundwater contamination, particularly in Bhagirathpura, which has now emerged as the worst-affected area. The board collected water samples from nearly 60 locations across Indore, including borewells, handpumps, and other groundwater sources that residents relied on for daily use.
Laboratory analysis of these samples revealed alarming results. Almost all tested sources showed total coliform levels exceeding 10 MPN per 100 millilitres, a threshold far above safe limits for human consumption. These findings clearly pointed to faecal pollution, strongly suggesting that sewage was seeping into groundwater and drinking water sources across multiple localities.
Following these findings, the pollution control board formally shared its report with the Indore Municipal Corporation. The board warned that several water sources were unfit for drinking and recommended that they be officially declared unsafe. It advised the civic body to install warning boards and stickers on contaminated handpumps and borewells and to take concrete measures to prevent sewage from entering water pipelines. The report emphasised that a significant portion of Indore’s groundwater could not be considered potable due to persistent and unchecked contamination.
Beyond the Indore crisis, a separate assessment by the central government has raised equally serious concerns about drinking water safety in rural Madhya Pradesh. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a recent evaluation found that more than one-third of drinking water samples collected from rural areas of the state were unsafe for consumption. Specifically, 36.7 per cent of samples failed quality tests, highlighting a widespread problem extending beyond urban centres.
These findings were part of the ‘Functionality Assessment of Household Tap Connections 2024’, released last month. The assessment covered 15,094 rural households surveyed between September and October 2024. Water samples were tested for indicators such as E. coli, total coliform bacteria, and pH levels to determine whether the water supplied through household taps met basic safety standards.
The report also revealed stark district-wise disparities in access to safe drinking water. Districts such as Alirajpur, Barwani, Jhabua, Narsinghpur, and Sidhi reported 100 per cent safe water samples. In sharp contrast, districts including Anuppur, Dindori, Panna, Rewa, and Umaria did not record a single potable water sample. Several other districts, such as Gwalior, Ashoknagar, Morena, Damoh, Khandwa, Ujjain, and Shivpuri, showed safe water availability in less than 40 per cent of households, while Bhopal and Jabalpur were closer to the state average.
Amid these worrying findings, there has been some relief for residents of Bhagirathpura. Recent testing of five water samples from the area returned negative results for contamination. RT-PCR analysis detected no presence of harmful pathogens such as E. coli, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella, Rotavirus, or Enterovirus. However, officials have cautioned that isolated negative results are not enough and have stressed the need for sustained monitoring, infrastructure upgrades, and long-term preventive measures to ensure that such contamination does not recur.
