• Dozens dead and hundreds injured from contaminated drinking water in Indore
• Residents’ warnings ignored for weeks before the disaster

Contaminated drinking water, tainted with sewage, caused the deaths of at least ten people, including an infant, and left more than 270 others requiring hospitalization in Indore, India, a city ranked as the country’s “cleanest city” for the past eight years.

Residents of a densely populated, low-income neighborhood in Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, had been warning authorities for months about foul-smelling tap water, but their complaints went unaddressed despite the city’s acclaimed record in waste management and hygiene standards.

Indore’s mayor, Pushyamitra Bhargava, said he “received reports of 10 deaths due to a diarrhoea outbreak caused by contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area,” noting that sewage had mixed with the main water line coming from the city’s water tank.

Local media reported that the death toll had risen to 15, although there was no official confirmation. At least 32 patients remain in intensive care, while the state’s chief minister, Mohan Yadav, said that health teams conducting door-to-door visits “identified 2,456 suspected cases and provided immediate first aid on the spot.”

Authorities traced the contamination to a public toilet built directly above the drinking water pipeline, which allowed sewage to seep into the supply, as the toilet was constructed without a proper septic tank.

Residents began flooding hospitals earlier this week, complaining of vomiting, diarrhoea, and high fever.

A medical official confirmed that water tests “revealed the presence of abnormal bacteria typically found in human sewage.”

Residents reported that their complaints ran into bureaucratic red tape and were ignored. Indore municipal councillor Kamal Waghela described the incident as “likely a case of gross negligence,” and several municipal officials have been suspended pending investigation.

The father of the five-month-old infant, Sunil Sahu, said his child died after drinking tap water stored in a feeding bottle. “No one told us the water was contaminated. We filtered it. The same water was flowing throughout the neighborhood. There was no warning,” he said.

A local newspaper called for “strict enforcement of water guidelines and environmental laws at all levels,” noting that toxic air pollution affecting many cities already “poses a serious threat to public health,” and that what happened in Madhya Pradesh should serve as “a wake-up call for India’s water management.”

The government said new regulations would be introduced to prevent similar incidents. Yadav added, “No effort will be spared to ensure this does not happen again.”

The Indore crisis comes amid broader concerns over drinking water safety across India. Local media reports indicate that only 8% of public water-testing laboratories run by the Delhi government are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, compared to 59% nationwide.

Experts warn that rapid urban population growth in India increases the risk of disease outbreaks when water quality monitoring is insufficient.