Bhopal gas survivors’ groups test 63 water samples, find fecal contamination in 43 of them
Bhopal gas disaster survivors on Friday accused the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) of supplying sewage-contaminated drinking water to residents living near the abandoned Union Carbide factory, warning that the situation resembles the deadly contamination seen in Indore’s Bhagirathpura.
At a press conference, leaders of four survivor organisations presented a water quality report showing that nearly 70% of tested samples contained fecal coliform, a bacteria that indicates contamination with human or animal waste.
What the report found
Nawab Khan, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, said his group tested 63 water samples from taps in 30 communities this month. Fecal coliform was confirmed in 43 of these samples, meaning 19 out of 30 communities are receiving contaminated water.
The contamination varied by source. Khan said 90% of samples from water supplied through the Upper Lake tested positive, while 25% of samples from the Kolar Dam supply also showed contamination.
Rising health complaints in affected areas
Rashida Bee, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, said residents living next to the abandoned factory are falling sick from waterborne diseases linked to the contaminated supply. She said entire families are reporting diarrhoea and vomiting, and private clinics are seeing a rise in typhoid cases.
Bee referred to a 2004 Supreme Court order, which recognised that groundwater in these areas was contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching from hazardous waste dumped at the Union Carbide factory. The court had directed authorities to supply piped drinking water to protect residents from this toxic contamination.
Eight years of inaction on sewage lines
Balkrishna Namdeo, President of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morcha, said the Supreme Court had separately ordered the BMC in August 2018 to lay sewage lines and fix drainage in the area, after complaints of fecal contamination in piped water first surfaced.
Namdeo said the BMC had promised to finish this work within three months but has not started it in the eight years since the court order.
Survivors demand accountability
Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action called for strict action against officials responsible for supplying contaminated water. She said people should not have to die, as they did in Bhagirathpura, before officers face consequences for violating Supreme Court orders and endangering residents’ health.
Dhingra demanded a time-bound plan to complete the sewage and drainage work, along with an independent system to monitor drinking water quality in the area without delay.
Why this matters
This report points to a gap between court orders and ground reality that has persisted for over two decades. The Supreme Court’s 2004 order recognised the health risk from toxic groundwater near the Union Carbide site, and its 2018 order specifically addressed fecal contamination in piped water. Yet survivor groups say the core infrastructure problem, the absence of proper sewage lines, remains unresolved eight years later.
The comparison to Bhagirathpura is significant because it points to a preventable public health risk. Sewage mixing with drinking water pipelines is a known and fixable problem, and when it goes unaddressed, it can lead to disease outbreaks that disproportionately affect the poorest residents, who already carry health burdens from the original 1984 gas leak.
This case may also test how Indian courts and civic bodies handle repeat non-compliance with judicial orders in matters of public health, especially for a population already recognised by the Supreme Court as a vulnerable, disaster-affected community deserving of protection.
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