Death by contamination: on Indian cities and unsafe drinking water
Governments need to ensure safety of piped supply of water while widening coverage
As policymakers prioritise universal access to potable water, the death of three persons last week in Chennai due to suspected consumption of contaminated piped water is a reminder that coverage is not the only problem: even urban centres with a long history of piped supply are still not assured of potable water that is free from dangerous contamination. The incident, which involved drinking water supplied through the State agency in suburban Pallavaram, also sent 34 people to hospital with complaints of diarrhoea. The laboratory test reports of local water samples are yet to be made public, and it may be too early to blame the agency. Nonetheless, the remarks of State Minister T.M. Anbarasan, accusing the affected people of not maintaining hygiene in their surroundings, come across as insensitive and irresponsible. Irrespective of the cause, it is concerning that severe contamination of water continues to occur with greater periodicity in cities in India. In the past six months, large-scale outbreaks of health episodes due to consumption of water containing E.coli have been reported in cities including Bengaluru, Kochi, Noida and Vizianagaram. This exposes the challenge of catering to the basic needs of people, who are increasingly shifting to cities and living in congested environs, putting the water and drainage infrastructure under strain.
Governments face a challenge in providing safe drinking water in a tropical country such as India. Data from the Jal Shakti Ministry show that arsenic has been detected in groundwater in parts of 230 districts in 25 States and fluoride in 469 districts in 27 States. In 2022, according to the World Health Organization, at least 1.7 billion people, globally, used a drinking water source contaminated with faeces. Worldwide, an estimated one million people die annually from diarrhoea caused by unsafe drinking water, sanitation and hand hygiene. In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly had explicitly recognised the human right to water and sanitation. Towards this end, addressing the issue of chemical pollution of groundwater is also non-negotiable. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is cognisant of this. Ahead of the last Assembly elections, he had unveiled his 10-year vision statement for seven priority areas to facilitate development of Tamil Nadu. This included promises to increase the annual per capita drinking water supply from nine lakh litres to 10 lakh litres; reduce wastage of water from 50% to 15%; and increase distribution of recycled water from 5% to 20%. Now, he needs to walk the talk, especially in terms of supplying safe drinking water