Indore’s deadly drop: Warning bell for Hyderabad’s water supply

The unfolding tragedy in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where contaminated drinking water has officially claimed ten lives (with unofficial estimates higher) and hospitalised over 200 residents, serves as a grim wake-up call for urban India. That this calamity struck the city holding the coveted ‘Cleanest City’ tag for eight consecutive years underscores a critical vulnerability in our urban planning: the perilous proximity of drinking water and sewage lines. For Hyderabad, a city rapidly expanding its metropolitan footprint while struggling to modernize its historic core, the lessons from Indore are not just theoretical—they are urgent.

The Indore incident: An anatomy of failure

The crisis in Indore’s Bhagirathpura locality was not caused by a complex chemical spill but by a rudimentary infrastructure lapse. Investigations revealed that a community toilet was constructed directly over a main drinking water pipeline. Instead of a septic tank, the contractor routed the sewage into a pit situated immediately above the water supply line. A leak in the water pipe, combined with the sewage seepage, turned the neighbourhood’s tap water into a toxic vector of bacteria, including E. coli. The tragedy highlights a “silent killer” in Indian urban engineering: cross-contamination. When water supply is intermittent—as it is in most Indian cities—pipes running empty create negative pressure (suction). If a sewage line running parallel or above leaks, the vacuum in the water pipe sucks in the pathogens, which are then flushed into homes when the water supply resumes.

Hyderabad’s ‘Spaghetti Underground’

While Indore grapples with the aftermath, Hyderabad must introspect. The Telangana capital sits on a dichotomy of infrastructure. On one hand, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) is pushing forward with the ₹7,360 crore Godavari Drinking Water Supply Project (Phases II & III) to secure water until 2050. On the other, the city’s underbelly is a maze of aging pipelines, some dating back to the Nizam era. The risk of cross-contamination in Hyderabad is far from hypothetical.

In October 2024, residents of Chikkadpally reported receiving water that smelled of drainage for weeks. Similar complaints have periodically surfaced from areas like KPHB and the Old City, where narrow lanes force water and sewage lines to share the same cramped trenches. A 2022 study by Barkatullah University, which predicted the risks in Bhopal and Indore, noted that “co-location” of drainage and water infrastructure is a ticking time bomb.

Hyderabad’s older neighbourhoods, with their high population density and entangled utility lines, fit this risk profile perfectly. The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) mandates a minimum distance of 300mm between water and sewer lines, a standard often compromised during road widening or unauthorized construction.

The storage peril and infrastructure gaps

Beyond the pipelines, Hyderabad faces a secondary challenge highlighted by recent studies: household-level contamination. A study on Hyderabad’s low-income settlements revealed that while water often leaves the treatment plant meeting safety standards, the intermittent nature of supply forces residents to store water in drums and tanks. In slum areas, where hygiene buffers are thin, this storage becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, mimicking the effects of pipeline contamination. Furthermore, the city’s reliance on aging conduits—such as the gravity channel from Osmansagar to Asif Nagar—poses a structural risk. While HMWSSB has announced plans to lay a new parallel pipeline to mitigate losses, the interim period remains vulnerable to cracks and seepage from surrounding urbanization.

Lessons for the HMWSSB

The Indore tragedy teaches us that “Smart City” dashboards and “Swachh” rankings are insufficient if the subterranean basics are compromised.

* Audit of co-located Lines: The HMWSSB must prioritize a safety audit of areas where water and sewage lines intersect or run in close parallel, particularly in the Old City. Modern non-destructive testing (NDT) can identify weak points in older pipelines before they fracture.

* Contractor accountability: The Indore failure was partly due to negligence by a contractor who cut corners on a septic tank. Hyderabad’s municipal bodies must strictly enforce building codes, ensuring no structure—especially sanitation units—is built over utility corridors.

* Positive pressure maintenance: Ensuring a continuous 24x7 water supply is the ultimate solution to prevent the “suction” effect that draws sewage into pipes. Until that goal is met, maintaining positive pressure in pipes even during non-supply hours (where feasible) is a technical safeguard.

* Decentralised monitoring: Relying solely on treatment plant tests is inadequate. Real-time water quality sensors should be installed at the “tail-end” of the distribution network—the point just before it enters the consumer’s home.

The loss of life in Indore is a tragedy; for it to happen in a city celebrated for its cleanliness is an irony. For Hyderabad, it is a warning. As we lay the foundation for a “Global City” with AI-driven complaint redressal and river rejuvenation projects, we must not forget that public health ultimately depends on the integrity of the humble pipe buried three feet underground.

The HMWSSB has acted swiftly in the past—adopting AI for complaints is a commendable step—but the Board must now ensure that the physical firewall between the city’s waste and its water remains impenetrable.

(The writer is OSD to former union civil aviation minister)