Years before a recent tragedy in Indore claimed lives and sparked public outrage, official audits had repeatedly sounded the alarm about a severe public health risk in Madhya Pradesh: contaminated drinking water. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had flagged systemic failures in monitoring and testing, linking them directly to hundreds of thousands of water-borne disease cases.
A Legacy of Warnings Ignored
In a damning audit report for the year ending March 2018, the CAG highlighted critical lapses in how urban local bodies were handling drinking water safety. The report pointed to a staggering statistic: 5.45 lakh (545,000) cases of water-borne diseases were recorded in the areas under Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) between 2013 and 2018. Based on this data, the national auditor cautioned that the possibility of contaminated water being supplied by the municipal corporations during this period could not be ruled out.
To verify the situation on the ground, the audit team conducted joint sampling with civic officials in August and September 2018. They collected 54 samples from various points in the supply chain—water sources, filter plants, overhead tanks, and consumer taps—and had them tested independently at the State Research Laboratory in Bhopal.
Disturbing Test Results from Key Cities
The laboratory findings were deeply concerning. In Bhopal, the turbidity (cloudiness) in some samples exceeded the standards set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). More alarmingly, faecal coliform bacteria, which should be completely absent in drinking water, was detected in multiple samples.
The situation in Indore was even worse. Faecal coliform counts in the samples ranged from 40 to 140, far above the permissible limit of zero. The auditor estimated that approximately 8.95 lakh (895,000) residents—3.62 lakh in Bhopal and 5.33 lakh in Indore—were likely affected by the supply of this contaminated water. The report attributed this crisis to a "lack of monitoring of filter plants at the operational level as well as at the distribution level."
Persistent Systemic Failures
Despite these clear warnings, the systemic problems persisted. A subsequent CAG audit report for the year ending March 2022 found that 7 out of 14 randomly audited urban local bodies did not even have water testing laboratories. The audit observed that tests were not conducted regularly and that civic bodies failed to follow the minimum sampling frequencies prescribed in the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) manual.
The CAG reiterated its warning, stating that "adverse effects on the health of the population due to supply of water without regular testing cannot be ruled out." These red flags, documented over years, highlight a pattern of neglect in ensuring a basic public health safeguard.
Aftermath and Calls for Action
The tragic incident in Indore, which resulted in at least 10 deaths, finally triggered widespread public anger. In its wake, the volunteer organization Jan Swastha Abhiyan wrote to the state's chief secretary and the Union Jal Shakti ministry. Citing the repeated audit findings, the group demanded urgent and concrete action to address the long-ignored water safety crisis.
The sequence of events paints a troubling picture: clear audit warnings, specific data on disease outbreaks, and scientific evidence of contamination were available for years. Yet, the necessary corrective measures were not implemented, ultimately culminating in a public health tragedy that has shaken the state.
