Despite Article 47 of the Indian Constitution directing the State to improve public health and living standards, millions in rural India still lack access to safe drinking water. This isn’t just a policy failure — it's a brewing health disaster.
Unsafe Water, Unsafe Lives
According to SIWI (Stockholm International Water Institute), over 163 million Indians are forced to rely on contaminated water sources. The consequences are deadly:
According to NFHS-5 (2019–21), open defecation is practiced by about 19% of households nationally.
Contaminated drinking water and open defecation contribute to 21% of all communicable diseases in India, including diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and helminthic infections.
· In many areas, water contains dangerous levels of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), arsenic, fluoride, and nitrates — all of which can cause irreversible long-term health damage, including skeletal fluorosis, cancer, and kidney failure.
Recent Disease Outbreaks Sound the Alarm
A series of recent outbreaks underscore the growing severity of this crisis:
Puri, Odisha (Jan 2025): Over 100 villagers fell ill and 4 died from diarrhoea linked to polluted water from the Daya River.
Maharashtra (2024–25): Testing across 41,000 villages found that 12,000 villages, primarily in Ahmednagar district, had bacterially contaminated water containing E. coli.
Jajpur, Odisha (June 2025): A cholera outbreak spread across multiple districts; over 2,000 cases and 11 deaths were reported.
Butaladinni, Karnataka (2025): 40 villagers fell ill after consuming water from an old overhead tank.
Toxic Elements in Rural Drinking Water: A Public Health Hazard
In many rural regions of India, the water crisis is not just about quantity — it’s about dangerous quality.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) recommends that Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in drinking water should not exceed 500 mg/L, though levels up to 2,000 mg/L are permitted in the absence of an alternative source.
Arsenic, a known carcinogen, contaminates groundwater in states like West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Punjab. Chronic exposure can lead to skin lesions, cancers, and cardiovascular disease.
Fluoride, while beneficial in trace amounts, causes skeletal fluorosis when present in high levels. Regions like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Gujarat report severe cases of joint stiffness, bone deformities, and chronic pain.
Nitrates, often leached from agricultural fertilizers, are common in parts of Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra, and can cause blue baby syndrome in infants — a life-threatening condition.
This silent contamination poses long-term health risks that often go unnoticed until they become irreversible.
Table: Demarcating High TDS vs. Other Hidden Water Hazards
What Is the Government Doing?
Multiple national programmes aim to solve the rural water and sanitation crisis:
Jal Jeevan Mission (2024): Ensures tap water for every rural household and promotes community participation in water conservation and greywater reuse.
Atal Bhujal Yojana (2020): Encourages community-led groundwater management in water-stressed areas across seven states.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (2019): A landmark sanitation drive that built over 100 million toilets, declaring 6 lakh villages open defecation free.
National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP): Aims to provide every rural person with safe and adequate drinking water on a sustainable basis.
However, implementation gaps persist — and people continue to fall ill.
A Call to Action
Water isn’t just a resource — it's a right. But safe water only stays safe when everyone plays a part.
Here’s how we can act:
Raise awareness on simple purification methods like boiling or chlorination.
Train communities to test water for contamination regularly using TDS meters or testing kits.
Promote behavioural changes — such as keeping animal waste away from water sources and using toilets properly.
Empower local leadership to maintain water infrastructure and monitor pipelines and tanks.
Clean water saves lives. Contaminated water steals them.
It's time we move from awareness to action — every community, every household, every policymaker.
Conclusion
India cannot afford to let 21st-century progress be undermined by a medieval water crisis. Ensuring access to safe drinking water isn't just a public health goal — it’s a constitutional mandate and a moral responsibility. Let’s demand clean water, not just as a resource, but as a right.