October 10, 2025
THIMPHU – Bhutan is celebrated for its pristine environment—its crystal rivers, clear mountain air, and abundant springs. Yet, a recent national study has revealed an unsettling contradiction: while water is clean at the source, much of it becomes unsafe to drink by the time it reaches the tap.
An analysis by the Royal Centre for Disease Control (RCDC) of drinking water quality from 2017 to 2024 found that only 52.8 percent of urban samples and 70.1 percent of rural samples met the national microbial safety standard.
The findings, based on thousands of tests, show little improvement over the eight-year period and make one fact clear—clean sources do not guarantee safe drinking water at the point of use.
Microbial contamination emerged as the most serious concern. Under Bhutan’s national standard, safe water should contain zero colony-forming units of fecal bacteria per 100 millilitres. Yet, nearly half of urban samples failed this test.
Eight dzongkhags—Trashiyangtse, Trashigang, Lhuentse, Samdrupjongkhar, Mongar, Punakha, Wangdue, and Zhemgang—recorded average microbial compliance below 50 percent, with the eastern region consistently showing the weakest performance.
Seasonal effects worsen the problem. During the monsoon, heavy runoff, higher turbidity, and source contamination combine to reduce disinfection effectiveness. While most samples met Bhutan’s national turbidity limit of five Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU)—a measure of how cloudy water is—far fewer met the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) stricter guideline of under one NTU.
Several dzongkhags recorded turbidity compliance below 50 percent relative to the WHO standard, with peaks in July during the rainy season.
Even more concerning, residual chlorine—the safeguard that keeps treated water safe as it travels through long, gravity-fed systems—met recommended levels in only 11.9 percent of treated samples. The report attributed this to inadequate chlorine dosing, decay in ageing or lengthy distribution networks, and weak operational oversight.
“Water that is safe at the treatment plant can become contaminated before it reaches household,” the report states.
Although rural supplies appeared to perform better, this advantage is partly technical. Rural testing relied heavily on smaller one-millilitre samples using 3M Petri-film E. coli plates, a simple method that does not require full laboratory facilities. Urban systems, however, used the international 100-millilitre membrane filtration method, which is more sensitive and detects even low contamination levels. The study cautions that rural results may therefore underestimate microbial risk.
Dagana dzongkhag recorded particularly low compliance, showing the same seasonal deterioration during the monsoon. The study recommends standardising testing across urban and rural systems and strengthening rural laboratory capacity for more accurate assessments.
Infrastructure and governance gaps further explain why contamination occurs downstream of clean sources. Much of Bhutan’s rural water supply is gravity-fed spring water delivered without formal treatment, while many urban systems rely on aging plants offering only basic filtration and intermittent chlorination. Damaged pipelines, illegal connections, uncovered storage tanks, and unsafe household storage also contribute to contamination after treatment.
The report underscores that contamination often happens at the household level because of poor hygiene and unsafe storage practices. It stresses that local management, individual behaviour, and system integrity are as important as upstream water quality.
The government has begun responding more proactively. The Department of Water (DoW), established in January 2023, now leads national water governance. The revised Bhutan Drinking Water Quality Standards, endorsed in June 2025, updated safety parameters and clarified institutional responsibilities.
The RCDC feeds surveillance data into the Water Quality Monitoring System, while operational monitoring from service providers flows into the Water and Sanitation Information System—with plans to integrate both platforms.
The government aims to achieve 90 percent safely managed drinking water coverage before the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan and to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030. The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Lyonpo Chandra Bdr. Gurung, said the ministry currently lacks a dedicated budget for post-construction activities, including Water Safety Plans, and that technical oversight remains limited within a single division.
Financing for operation and maintenance, he added, “is frequently insufficient, leading to early deterioration of water schemes.”
“The ministry is providing technical support to local governments, promoting early-stage water source testing, integrating treatment systems into new projects, exploring external funding for priority interventions, and supporting the formation of Water User Associations to sustain local systems,” Lyonpo said.
Concrete reforms are now underway. The DoW and RCDC have formed the National Drinking Water Quality Task Force to strengthen coordination, surveillance reporting, and Water Safety Plan implementation. The task force will meet quarterly, with repeated non-compliance cases escalated under the Water Act 2011 and its rules.
Monthly surveillance now checks for critical parameters such as E. coli and residual chlorine, while operational monitoring covers pH, turbidity, and sensory checks more frequently. Rural health-centre staff are being trained and equipped with incubators and testing kits to improve diagnostic capability.
The path forward lies in combining technical improvements with governance reforms and behavioural change. Upgrading treatment facilities, installing booster chlorination points, standardising microbial testing, auditing Water Safety Plans, and building rural laboratory capacity are essential steps.