Water is life, they say. These days, in India, water is death and disease. With sewage contamination emerging as the leading cause, keeping piped drinking water safe is becoming both increasingly urgent and increasingly difficult. From city after city, reports are flooding in of poorly laid pipelines contaminated by seepage from dangerously close sewage lines. Ageing, corroded pipes — often 40–50 years old — have been identified as the culprits, but no remedial plans are in sight.

The very first fortnight of January saw several outbreaks of waterborne diseases. In Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar, over 150 children were admitted to hospital with typhoid in early January. In Bengaluru, India’s tech hub, 30 households in Lingarajapuram reported diarrhoeaand stomach infections on 4 January. On 7 January, residents of Greater Noida fell ill after drinking contaminated water.

These incidents came hot on the heels of the outbreak in Indore — apparently India’s ‘best, cleanest, smartest’ city — where 3,200 people were reported sick by 31 December 2025. Severe bouts of diarrhoea claimed 17 lives and led to the hospitalisation of 200 residents of Bhagirathpura.

On 8 January, Down To Earth reported that residents of Patna’s Kankarbagh Housing Colony were bracing for a similar outbreak after taps began discharging foul-smelling yellowish water. Despite complaints that the water was unfit even for washing clothes, the municipal corporation resorted to stopgap repairs.

The story is no different in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, where 100 residents of the Kachna Housing Board area fell ill. In Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, officials are reported to have identified over 300 damaged water pipelines. Gurugram was not been spared either: in December 2025, 60–70 residents in Sector 70A fell ill due to contaminated water, with at least 10 hospitalisations. Diarrhoea, typhoid, hepatitis and prolonged fever have been leading to........

© National Herald