Patna: The recent tragedy in Indore, where at least 10 people lost their lives after consuming sewage-contaminated drinking water, has sent shockwaves far beyond Madhya Pradesh. For Bihar, a state already battling widespread water contamination, the incident serves as a grim warning of how fragile public health safeguards can be. What makes the Indore episode particularly disturbing is that it occurred in a city often celebrated as India’s “cleanest”, highlighting that even highly rated urban systems can fail catastrophically when infrastructure and oversight falter.
In Bihar, the dependence on groundwater is near total. From drinking and cooking to daily household needs, almost every home draws water from below the surface. Yet for millions, each glass carries invisible dangers — bacteriological contamination or toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, uranium, cadmium, manganese, iron and fluoride. The risks are silent, cumulative and often irreversible.
Experts point out that the scale of the crisis is staggering. As many as 30,207 rural wards across the state are exposed to what has been categorised as “unsafe” drinking water, posing serious and long-term health threats. The Bihar Economic Survey Report (2024-25) lays bare the extent of the problem, recording arsenic contamination in groundwater in 4,709 wards, fluoride in 3,789 wards and iron in as many as 21,709 wards.
According to the report, around 26% of rural wards in 31 districts — out of Bihar’s total 38 — have groundwater sources contaminated with arsenic, fluoride and iron beyond permissible limits. The affected wards are spread across Buxar, Bhojpur, Patna, Saran, Vaishali, Lakhisarai, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Begusarai, Khagara, Munger, Katihar, Bhagalpur, Sitamarhi, Kaimur, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Nalanda, Nawada, Sheikhpura, Jamui, Banka, Supaul, Madhepura, Saharsa, Araria and Kishanganj districts, painting a picture of a crisis that cuts across regions and demographics.
Beyond these well-documented contaminants, recent studies have flagged an even more disturbing trend. Groundwater in several localities has been found to contain heavy metals such as uranium, cadmium, lead and manganese, posing constant threats to residents. In some areas, traces of these toxic elements have been detected not just in water, but also in food grains and even in mothers’ breast milk, highlighting how deeply contamination has penetrated the food chain.
Ashok Kumar Ghosh, former chairman of the Bihar State Pollution Control Board, traces the roots of the crisis back several decades. He points out that the problem began to surface in the 1970s, when the use of groundwater for irrigation expanded rapidly following the green revolution. The unchecked proliferation of tube well irrigation, even in water-scarce regions, led to severe depletion of aquifers. This, he said, triggered contamination of groundwater with arsenic and fluoride. He suggested that groundwater or surface water in affected areas should be used only after proper treatment.
If groundwater tells one half of the story, surface water tells another — and it is no less troubling. Bihar generates an estimated 2,276 MLD of sewage, yet a large proportion of it remains untreated. The treatment capacity of existing sewage treatment plants is far below the volume of sewage and wastewater generated daily. As a result, most of this waste is discharged directly into rivers without treatment.
“Bihar faces a severe challenge in managing its daily sewage with millions of litres untreated, polluting its rivers, particularly the Ganga,” said Bhavuk Sharma, a geology teacher at Patna University who has worked extensively on water quality issues.
The situation in the state capital is especially alarming. Patna alone generates around 450 MLD of sewage but has a massive gap in treatment capacity. Existing STPs together can handle only about 50-121 MLD, allowing vast quantities of untreated sewage to flow into the Ganga, mainly through drains such as Kurji, Rajapur and Mandiri. While govt projects aim to raise treatment capacity to over 650 MLD, much of Patna’s wastewater continues to go untreated due to infrastructure constraints and operational challenges.
“This leads to severe bacterial contamination in the river,” said R K Verma, general secretary of the Indian Science Congress Association. He also flagged a critical urban planning flaw, saying that the laying of drinking water pipelines alongside sewage lines often results in contamination due to leakages.
Bihar State Pollution Control Board chairman D K Shukla said sewage pipelines must be laid much deeper than community water supply pipes to prevent contamination in case of leaks. He also stressed the urgent need to replace old and dilapidated pipes, warning that ageing infrastructure increases the risk of seepage and cross-contamination.
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