The science of safe water is clear. Why did Indore still get it wrong, and how can citizens stay safe?

It is 2026, and safe drinking water in India is still not a given. For many urban residents, water remains an invisible certainty, flowing through taps until it suddenly doesn’t. When it fails, it forces a reckoning with a reality that millions across the country live with every day. The recent contamination crisis in Indore has brought this discomfort into city homes, reminding us that even India’s fastest-growing and most celebrated cities remain deeply vulnerable when it comes to water security.

Between late December 2025 and early January 2026, residents of Bhagirathpura, a densely populated neighbourhood in Indore, reported that municipal tap water had turned foul-smelling, discoloured, and bitter. Within days, cases of acute illness, marked by severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and high fever, began to emerge. As documented across multiple media reports, the outbreak affected over a thousand people. While official figures initially confirmed a limited number of deaths, independent accounts and local reporting suggested that the human toll may have been significantly higher.

The disaster did not stem from a failure at the treatment plant but rather within the distribution network—the most vulnerable and poorly monitored segment of the water supply chain. 

What we know so far

A preventable source of contamination: The contamination was traced to a public toilet at a police outpost constructed directly above a 30-year-old drinking water main. Without a proper septic tank, raw sewage drained into a pit, seeping into a leaking joint in the water pipeline and contaminating the municipal supply.

A lethal mix of pathogens
Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of multiple disease-causing organisms, including E. coli, Salmonella, and Vibrio cholerae. Medical experts linked these pathogens to severe gastrointestinal illness, sepsis, and organ failure, particularly among children, the elderly, and those with compromised immunity.

Human toll far beyond official numbers: While official records acknowledged at least four deaths, independent reporting and local accounts suggest the toll may be significantly higher. Over a thousand residents were affected, overwhelming local healthcare facilities and exposing gaps in disease surveillance and emergency response.

Administrative action after the fact: The Chief Minister ordered the removal of the Municipal Commissioner and the suspension of senior engineers for gross dereliction of duty. The National Human Rights Commission took suo motu cognisance, and judicial intervention ensured free medical treatment for affected residents.

Warnings ignored, response delayed: Residents had raised complaints about foul-smelling and discoloured water days before the outbreak escalated. Corrective action, including testing and emergency chlorination, began only after large-scale illness had already spread across multiple supply points.

A larger question of urban ‘cleanliness’: The incident has reignited a national debate on whether cleanliness rankings prioritise visible sanitation and aesthetics while overlooking the invisible, decaying infrastructure where drinking water and sewage systems dangerously intersect.

Key facts that put the crisis in context

Intermittent supply and pressure risks: In Indore, like in many Indian cities, water is supplied for only a few hours a day. When the pipes are empty or under low pressure between supply cycles, a vacuum-like effect can draw in surrounding groundwater or raw sewage through cracks and loose joints. This mechanism, known as backsiphonage or intrusion, ensures that even if water is purified at the treatment plant, it can become toxic by the time it reaches the consumer's tap.

Ageing infrastructure and cross-contamination: The physical state of urban infrastructure often facilitates these disasters. Many pipelines in Indore’s older neighbourhoods, such as Bhagirathpura, are 30 to 50 years old and have exceeded their design life. These pipes frequently run parallel to or directly cross sewer lines. The CPHEEO Manual on Water Supply and Treatment (MoHUA) warns that such proximity, combined with the corrosion of old metal pipes, makes cross-contamination almost inevitable. 

Monitoring and audit gaps: The crisis also exposed a persistent "blind spot" in water quality governance. Historically, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports have flagged that urban local bodies (ULBs) in Madhya Pradesh often lack adequate testing laboratories and fail to follow standardised sampling frequencies. For instance, a 2024 CAG audit noted that in both Bhopal and Indore, faecal coliform—which should be zero in drinking water—had been detected in several samples during previous test periods, suggesting a chronic issue. Furthermore, municipal testing is often "averaged" or restricted to treatment plants, meaning sudden, localised spikes in contamination go undetected until residents begin arriving at hospitals.

Convergence in vulnerable zones: In Indore, these risks converged in a high-density area with limited "redundancy"—meaning there were no alternative safe water sources for residents once the main line was compromised. According to reports from the WHO–UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), the lack of "safely managed" water (water available on-premises, available when needed, and free from contamination) is a primary driver of inequality in urban health.

Comparative analysis: WHO standards vs. Indore crisis realities

Why this is not rare

The Indore water tragedy of 2026 is a stark illustration of how systemic vulnerabilities in urban water management can lead to a public health catastrophe. While specific construction negligence was the immediate trigger, the scale of the outbreak was amplified by several well-documented infrastructure and governance challenges prevalent in Indian cities.

Indore’s tragedy is not an outlier. Similar outbreaks linked to sewage-contaminated drinking water have occurred repeatedly in Indian cities:

• Shimla’s jaundice outbreak (2015–16), which affected thousands, was traced to sewage contamination of water sources (Himachal Pradesh government enquiry reports).

• Hepatitis outbreaks in Odisha (2014–15) were linked to polluted municipal supplies and weak distribution safeguards (State Health Department reports).

These patterns point to a systemic issue: urban water and sanitation systems are often planned, funded, and governed as separate silos, despite decades of evidence that they function as a single public-health system.

What experts say

Sunderajan Krishnan, a water-quality expert, notes, “Communities often think ‘all is well’ because the water looks clear, but cross-contamination with sewage (or nitrates) is often invisible until it becomes fatal.”

Water quality specialists emphasise that treatment plants can meet standards while households still receive unsafe water. “Also, simply having a "tap connection" does not mean security if the pipes run through sewage drains—a common sight in Indian urban clusters,” adds Krishnan.

While many experts on urban water distribution networks point to pipe integrity and pressure management as critical weak links, according to Sachin Tiwale, Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), “In cities with intermittent water supply, even small structural defects become major contamination points during non-supply hours, when pipes operate under negative pressure. Incidents such as Indore often trigger a renewed focus on technology-centric solutions, including residual chlorine sensors and network redesigns. While these tools can certainly play a role, they risk diverting attention from more fundamental questions of water quality governance, which are often the real weak link. We need a water quality governance framework. No level of technological sophistication can substitute for an institutionalised water quality governance framework. Crucially, these governance procedures are not capital-intensive, unlike technological interventions that are often promoted as quick-fix solutions.”

Sunderrajan Krishnan stated that the Indore incident reflects a systemic collapse in the management of a basic life necessity. He highlighted that the failure occurred across four critical dimensions: monitoring, response, accountability, and risk forecasting. "First and foremost," Krishnan noted, "the system failed to act even after receiving multiple reports of visible leakages from local residents. These were surface-level leaks that were simply ignored. Beyond what is visible to the eye, there are now highly accurate technologies available to detect underground leakages that do not show on the surface." Krishnan explained that almost all modern water supply is via underground pipes. Leakages often occur due to: (i) Road construction and cable/fiber laying (ii) Geological shifts or ageing infrastructure and (iii) Poor quality of pipes or improper installation.

"Identifying and repairing these points quickly is not a difficult task today," says Krishnan. For leaks that aren't visible, departments can use pressure tests between two points. A drop in pressure identifies the exact segment of the pipe that is compromised.

A robust water quality governance framework is the only way to move beyond reactionary measures. “This begins with rigorous, routine monitoring that asks difficult questions: how many samples are being tested daily? Are these samples analysed following standardised protocols, and from where exactly are they collected? Are they only collected at treatment plants and service reservoirs, or also at pumping stations, booster stations, and, critically, from taps at the consumer end? Equally important is transparency: Are the results of daily water quality tests made public in a timely manner? Without this data, both the utility and the public remain in the dark about the actual risks they face,” says Tiwale.

Furthermore, the effectiveness of any monitoring system depends on established response protocols. “Municipalities must have a clearly defined chain of action for when a sample fails, ranging from shock chlorination and system flushing to immediate public health advisories. Equally crucial is the response protocol followed by the municipalities. What procedures are followed when a sample fails to meet drinking water quality standards? Is there a clearly defined chain of action, such as flushing, temporary shutdown, shock chlorination, or public advisories, and is it consistently implemented? Had Indore possessed such a robust monitoring and disclosure system, the contamination could have been detected and neutralised before escalating into a crisis. Ambitions like 24x7 water supply, while noble, are unlikely to succeed or be sustained if our current institutional capabilities cannot first manage these basic safety fundamentals,” adds Tiwale.

Sachin raises a few more questions in the context of Indore “The conditions of 24x7 projects implemented in some of the cities, I do not think, will solve the quality and quantity problems of urban water supply. We need to address the basic issues of water supply first. Our current institutional capabilities are unlikely to achieve such an ambitious goal and sustain it,” he says.

“Finally, we must address the regulatory "blind spots" that currently exist in urban water management. This includes standardising sampling norms—determining whether they should be based on population size, number of connections, network length, or the number of water supply zones to ensure safety. Simultaneously, the unregulated 20-litre water jar industry, which is now ubiquitous, operates without oversight regarding bottling hygiene or water quality. We must proactively regulate these providers now, rather than waiting for the next public health emergency to acknowledge the risk,” says Tiwale.

9 modern technologies to prevent such tragedies

Krishnan detailed nine readily available technologies that could have prevented the sewage backflow into the drinking water lines:

• Water Pressure Testers: Checks for pressure drops to find large leaks.

• Sound Detectors (Acoustic Sensors): Amplifies the sound of vibrating water escaping a pipe to pinpoint leaks without digging.

• Electromagnetic Induction: Detects changes in magnetic fields caused by underground leaks; ideal for long-distance lines.

• Thermal Imaging: Uses infrared to find "cold spots" in the soil where water is leaking, even in total darkness.

• Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR): Uses electromagnetic waves to create a 3D map of underground structures and moisture.

• Real-Time Monitoring Systems: Uses sensors and software to send instant alerts the moment a leak occurs.

• Smart Robots: Tiny robots equipped with HD cameras that travel inside the pipes to record cracks and corrosion.

• Smart Ball Technology: A spherical device dropped into the flow that records acoustic data to find even the smallest hidden leaks in complex urban networks.

• Satellite-Based Chlorine Detection: Satellites can analyse microwave signals to detect soil moisture patterns and specific chlorine signatures indicating treated water is leaking.

How residents can protect themselves — For now

Public-health authorities recommend the following emergency precautions in affected or uncertain areas:

• Avoid using tap water for drinking or cooking unless it has been boiled or adequately disinfected.

• Use bottled or verified tanker water for infants, elderly people, and those with compromised immunity.

• Report foul odour, unusual taste, or discolouration in water immediately to municipal helplines.

• Follow health advisories on hand hygiene and food preparation during outbreaks.

These are emergency measures. They cannot substitute for safe, continuously monitored public water systems, which remain the only sustainable safeguard against waterborne disease.

Why Indore is a wake-up call

The Indore outbreak exposes a deeper truth about urban India: infrastructure awards and cleanliness rankings do not guarantee public-health safety. What matters is the invisible, everyday work of maintaining pipes, monitoring pressure, responding to complaints, and governing water and sanitation as a single system. As climate stress, urban density, and ageing infrastructure intensify, such failures are likely to become more frequent unless cities invest in distribution-level monitoring, rapid response mechanisms, and integrated water–sanitation governance.

Indore’s crisis should not be remembered only as a tragedy. It should be a turning point ,  a reminder that the science of safe water is settled, and the real challenge lies in applying it consistently, from treatment plant to household tap.