75 out of 85 wards in city witnessing acute water shortage

Indore: Despite its status as India’s cleanest and premier ‘water plus’ certified city, Indore is grappling with a severe structural water deficit driven by a widening gap between municipal distribution and actual gross consumption. Out of the city’s 85 wards, 75 are currently experiencing acute water shortage.

The total daily water demand for Indore’s estimated population of 35 to 40 lakh spans a wide spectrum. Domestic consumption alone requires 620 million liters per day (MLD), based on an average per capita usage of 155 liters. When factoring in commercial operations, the city’s gross daily requirement escalates to nearly 900 MLD.

To fulfill this need, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) said, a bulk daily supply of 440 MLD water is sourced from the Narmada pipeline phases and Yashwant Sagar.

The actual net delivery however reduces to between 300 and 320 MLD due to infrastructural leaks. Furthermore, 30% of the urban populace lacks functional Narmada pipeline connections, forcing the civic body to deploy over 700 emergency water tankers daily.

To bridge the massive 580 MLD deficit, the city relies heavily on sub-surface water. Experts estimate that Indore’s groundwater exploitation rate has reached 120% of its sustainable yield, causing a record annual drop in the water table.

Official data reveals that out of 6,500 govt-operated borewells, approximately 50% have completely dried up this season. Currently, only about 10% of the total extracted volume is successfully recharged back into the ground annually.

Institutional countermeasures remain slow. Although municipal bylaws mandate the installation of rooftop rainwater harvesting systems for all structures built on plots of 1,500 square feet or more, implementation has lagged.

Till date, only 1.25 lakh properties have installed the system. Ahead of the upcoming monsoon, the IMC has set a modest target of 15,000 new installations, of which only 4,000 have been completed so far. This weak infrastructure keeps critical local reservoirs like Sirpur, Bilawali, Yashwant Sagar, and Pipliyahana under continuous ecological pressure.

Though, IMC has started working upon Narmada Phase-IV project to supply total around 900 MLD in Indore. Of this, 620 MLD water can meet the domestic requirement while remaining 280 MLD could be supplied for commercial purposes. But, this phase will be completed by 2029 and till then, recharging ground water level and strengthening ponds/wells seems to be only solution.