Contaminated Drinking Water in Indore Kills 9, Sends 200 to Hospital

Indore Water Contamination Triggers Diarrhoea Outbreak; 9 Dead, Over 200 Hospitalised

Indore, India | chatzyr.net

At least nine people have died and more than 200 have been hospitalised following a diarrhoea outbreak linked to contaminated drinking water in Indore, a major city in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, according to local officials and lawmakers.

Senior BJP lawmaker Kailash Vijayvargiya confirmed that nine deaths had been reported so far in the city.

Indore’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Madhav Prasad Hasani, said the outbreak was traced to contaminated water supplied in the Bhagirathpur area. He explained that a leakage in the water pipeline allowed bacteria to enter the drinking water system, with laboratory tests confirming contamination.

“More than 200 people from the same locality are currently receiving treatment at different hospitals across Indore,” Hasani told Reuters, adding that the final report of the water samples was still awaited.

District Administrative Officer Shravan Verma said emergency measures were immediately put in place to control the spread of the illness. Medical teams were deployed for door-to-door health screening, and chlorine tablets were distributed to residents to help purify drinking water.

“We identified one leakage point that likely caused the contamination, and it has now been repaired,” Verma said. He added that authorities screened 8,571 residents, of whom 338 were found to have mild symptoms of diarrhoea.

The incident has raised concerns as Indore, one of Madhya Pradesh’s largest cities, has consistently ranked as India’s cleanest city for the past eight years under the national cleanliness survey. The outbreak has sparked fresh questions about water safety and infrastructure maintenance despite the city’s top cleanliness rankings.

Health officials said monitoring would continue until the situation is fully under control.