Sewage in drinking water: Over 1,000 residents fall ill in Ghatlodia

Ahmedabad: City’s latest water contamination scare has exposed glaring civic negligence, drawing chilling parallels with Dec 2025 Indore tragedy where contaminated drinking water claimed 15 lives and left hundreds ill. In Ghatlodia, sewage water allegedly seeped into the city's drinking water pipeline, triggering a massive outbreak of diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach infections across at least five housing societies and resulting in more than 1,000 residents falling ill over the past two days.

The outbreak, centred around Akanksha Society and neighbouring Navratna, Vandemataram, Vinayak and Vardhman societies, has once again raised serious questions about the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) crumbling underground infrastructure and delayed emergency response. While residents and local representatives estimated that over 40 people had been hospitalised, AMC’s health department downplayed the scale of the crisis, claiming that “only 10 to 12 individuals were admitted to the hospital.”

Residents alleged that warnings about contaminated tap water had been repeatedly conveyed to AMC officials since Saturday, but no urgent action was taken. “Because Sunday was a holiday, the AMC did not take the complaint seriously,” alleged a local resident. “People started falling ill on Monday, but by Wednesday the situation had spiralled out of control.”

According to residents, excavation work near Jantanagar Crossing ruptured a main drinking water pipeline while a leaking drainage line beneath it allowed sewage water to infiltrate the supply network. The contamination allegedly continued unchecked for days despite repeated complaints.

The situation only prompted a full-scale civic response on Wednesday after hundreds of residents reported severe gastroenteritis symptoms. AMC officials, political office-bearers and medical teams rushed to the affected societies as panic spread among residents. Water tankers were deployed, society water tanks were sanitised and four medical vans were stationed in the area.

A resident of Akanksha Society, requesting anonymity, said the administration acted only after the outbreak became impossible to ignore. “Had the AMC acted immediately, hundreds of people could have been spared this suffering,” the resident said, claiming that more than 500 residents in Akanksha Society alone had fallen ill.

Rakesh Patel, chairman of Akanksha Society, said he personally visited the Jantanagar Water Distribution Station after complaints mounted. “The water at the station was clean, which made it clear that the contamination was occurring somewhere along the supply line,” he said. Patel claimed he alerted AMC officials about the possibility of sewage entering the pipeline from the excavation site and advised residents not to consume tap water. “By then, however, the damage had already been done,” he said.

He further added, “There are a total of 386 houses in our Akanksha Society. In almost every home, one or two people have fallen ill due to the contaminated water. More than 500 people are sick in our society alone.”

“We hired private cleaners to clean more than 40 water tanks in our society. Currently, drinking water is being supplied through tankers, and a medical team has been stationed in the society.,” said Patel.

Public health experts have repeatedly warned that ageing pipelines, unchecked leakages and delayed municipal response can rapidly turn contamination incidents into large-scale health disasters.

Despite the scale of the outbreak in Ahmedabad, AMC officials maintained that the situation was under control. AMC health officer Dr Bhavin Solanki said chlorine tests had been conducted and chlorine tablets distributed in the affected areas. “Four medical vans are providing OPD treatment in Akanksha Society and nearby localities,” he said.