Having beer readily available on tap at home might be a dream for some, but residents in southern India were left shocked when they discovered their entire water supply had become alcoholic.

Key points: Alcohol is flowing out of taps in an apartment block in Kerala, India

Alcohol is flowing out of taps in an apartment block in Kerala, India Local officials never showed up to fix it, so residents are pumping the well

Local officials never showed up to fix it, so residents are pumping the well It will take a month to recharge the well with clean water

A potent, slightly brown liquid started flowing last week from the taps of an apartment block in Chalakudy, in the state of Kerala, where 18 families live.

But it was no miracle.

Local authorities buried a huge supply of illegal alcohol nearby — a common practice among police in India — and the mix of beer, brandy and rum had seeped into the apartment's underground water supply.

Now residents are facing a month of alcohol flowing from their taps as they try to fix the well.

"A bar is located near our apartment. A few years back authorities seized around 6,000 litres of liquor from the bar," resident Joshy Maliyekkal told the ABC.

"They dug up a huge pit near the bar and poured the seized alcohol into it. The liquor seeped through the soil and mixed with the well water."

Residents left to fix their own water supply

The situation might sound like a bit of a joke, but the reality has proved anything but.

While authorities agreed to clean the water supply after receiving complaints, so far residents have been left to pump out the alcoholic water themselves.

The government has been delivering fresh water to residents. ( Supplied )

There are also concerns this could drag on. Recharging the well with clean, drinking water could take up to a month, local residents said.

In the meantime, they have to rely on fresh water the local government is delivering by truck.

"This is a very strange incident," resident Shihaab Saarang said.

It has also proved to be quite costly for those who rely on the well.

Most people living in the apartment building are eating at restaurants because they cannot cook with the alcohol-infused water.

These are the pumps that connect to the underground well, which supplies water to the apartments. ( Supplied )

"There are school kids in the building who are not going to school due to the non-availability of water," he said.

Kerala became a dry state in 2014 when the sale of alcohol was banned, but this was lifted in 2017.

Now the state has the highest rate of alcohol consumption in India.