Hyderabad: Every morning at 4 am, water runs in the taps of Shahbazguda in Secunderabad’s Warsiguda. By the time most families wake up, the water that was meant for drinking, cooking and bathing has already sat in their vessels – muddy, foul-smelling and at risk of making children sick – a situation drawing comparisons to the Indore water contamination tragedy earlier this year, which left at least 22 people dead and hundreds hospitalised.

For the past month, residents of Shahbazguda say they have been receiving contaminated water through the municipal supply from the Musheerabad division, with cases of stomach infections, fever and vomiting rising steadily in the locality. The elderly and children have been hit the hardest.

“We are paying water bills regularly, but what we receive is dirty, unsafe water,” said one resident. “Our children are suffering. Who will take responsibility if something serious happens?” the resident added.

Residents say they have filed multiple complaints with the water department and approached both the local Corporator and MLA, but allege their grievances have not been acted upon, leaving them helpless and frustrated.

Their demands include immediate inspection of underground pipelines, public disclosure of water quality testing reports, flushing and cleaning of supply lines and urgent intervention.

KS Vinod Kumar, General Manager of the Marredpally division, told Siasat.com that a team had been dispatched for an inspection. “Once the source of contamination is identified, we will fix the pipeline and the issue will be resolved by the evening,” he said.

Such a problem, however, can take weeks to contain, as was the case in Indore, when in January this year, sewage seeped into a municipal drinking water pipeline in Bhagirathpura due to infrastructure lapses. Residents began reporting foul-smelling, discoloured tap water – similar Shahbazguda –followed by a surge in cases of vomiting and diarrhoea. 

The contamination quickly escalated into a public health emergency. The Madhya Pradesh government acknowledged at least 22 deaths, while hundreds were hospitalised with symptoms of waterborne illness.