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Introduction

An indicator of public health is the well-being of the poorer sections. However, the recent deaths of at least four people in Indore, the nation’s “cleanest city”after drinking contaminated municipality-supplied water highlight ongoing water management challenges, exposing the vulnerabilities of urban piped-water infrastructure in densely populated pockets.

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Implications on Public Health

• Outbreak of Waterborne Diseases: Contamination leads to rapid surges in acute diarrhoeal diseases (ADD), cholera, and typhoid, which disproportionately affect children and the elderly. 
• High Economic Burden: Outbreaks impose significant economic costs on low-income families through treatment expenses and loss of daily wages due to illness.
  Eg: WHO projects that universal access to safely managed drinking water in India could prevent nearly 4 lakh diarrheal deaths.
• Erosion of Public Trust: Incidents in a model city like Indore shake citizen confidence in municipal services, leading to panic and reliance on unregulated private tankers. 
• Strain on Infrastructure: Such tragedies highlight the “silent crisis” of aging pipelines and the hazardous proximity of sewage lines to drinking water networks.
  Eg: Preliminary probes in Indore revealed sewage seeping from a toilet pit into a leaking main supply line.
• Mortality and Morbidity: Severe contamination causes preventable loss of life and long-term health complications like malnutrition and stunted growth in children. 
• Institutional Negligence: Recurring incidents point to failures in real-time water quality monitoring and delayed response to local complaints.
  Eg: The NHRC took suo motu cognizance, noting that residents had complained about foul-smelling water for days before action was taken.

Measures Needed for Safe Drinking Water

• Real-time Quality Monitoring: Deploying IoT-based sensors at distribution nodes to detect changes in pH, chlorine, and turbidity levels instantly.
  Eg: The “Vision for Sujalam Bharat” Summit 2025 emphasized AI-driven monitoring for leak detection and quality control.
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): Establishing mandatory national guidelines for laying water pipelines to ensure a safe physical distance from sewage networks. 
• Regular Pipeline Audits: Conducting periodic “health checks” of the urban distribution network to identify leaks and prevent cross-contamination in high-density areas. 
• Expanding Laboratory Networks: Increasing the frequency of microbial testing and ensuring that water testing labs are accessible for community-led samples.
  Eg: In 2025-26, over 2,843 laboratories across India tested nearly 38.78 lakh samples under the Jal Jeevan Mission framework.
• Decentralized Water Treatment: Installing community-scale purification plants and “Water ATMs” in slum areas to provide a secondary layer of safety.
  Eg: The AMRUT 2.0 scheme focuses on ensuring 100% water secure cities through sustainable treatment and distribution.
• Community Vigilance Training: Empowering local residents, especially women’s groups, to use Field Testing Kits (FTKs) for preliminary water screening. 

Conclusion

The Indore tragedy proves that “cleanliness” must extend beyond visible streets to the invisible subterranean networks of water and waste. Ensuring safe drinking water requires a transition from reactive repairs to proactive, data-driven management. By prioritizing the “Water-Sanitation-Hygiene” (WASH) nexus and enforcing strict accountability for municipal negligence, India can fulfill its constitutional commitment to the Right to Life and Health for all citizens.

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