Sewage contamination detected in 68% of water samples near Bhopal gas tragedy site, activists claim

Leaders of organisations representing survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy display water samples during a press conference, alleging contamination in the drinking water supplied to colonies around the abandoned Union Carbide factory, in Bhopal. | Photo Credit: PTI lA group of activists in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal on Friday (July 31, 2026) alleged that 68% of samples of the civic body-supplied drinking water in areas affected by the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy were found to be contaminated with presence of faecal coliform in tests conducted by the activists and residents of the area. According to the activists from four organisations representing survivors, 63 samples were taken from 30 localities around the defunct Union Carbide factory, the site of the tragedy, and tested between July 2 and 22, of which 43 were found sewage-contaminated. They alleged that the supply of contaminated water was creating a situation in the area similar to Indore’s Bhagirathpura, where government-supplied sewage-contaminated water claimed more than 35 lives in December, 2025 and January, 2026. “We tested 63 water samples from taps in 30 communities this month, and the presence of faecal coliform was confirmed in 43 samples. There is clear evidence that drinking water supplied to 19 out of 30 communities is contaminated with faeces,” the activists said at a press conference here, presenting data of their findings.They claimed that there were 12 localities where all the water samples were found contaminated, including some areas were pipelines were laid in recent years. Speaking to The Hindu, Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that 90% of samples of drinking water supplied from the city’s upper lake and 25% of samples of water supplied from the Kolar dam were found to be contaminated. Four samples of water supplied from the Narmada River were found negative for contamination. She said that the tests were conducted using H2S vial tests of a private company after months of writing to the authorities of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation to highlight the water condition in the area. “Our last mail to all the concerned authorities was on May 28, after which we decided to conduct the tests ourselves,” she said. Ms. Dhingra also alleges that a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee, of which she is a part along with various officials such as the BMC Commissioner, Bhopal district Collector, remains ineffective. The panel is responsible of overseeing supply of clean drinking water in 42 localities near the defunct factory. Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, said, “Residents in the communities next to the abandoned Union Carbide factory are suffering from a host of water-borne diseases from drinking faeces-contaminated water. Entire families are complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting, and private clinics are reporting too many cases of typhoid.”In 2018, the Supreme Court directed the BMC and Madhya Pradesh authorities to lay down fresh water pipelines in the affected areas following allegations of fecal coliform contamination in the ground water. Locals and activists say that the soil in the affected areas had been contaminated during the tragedy, and over the years the contamination reached ground water through rain. Multiple calls from The Hindu to BMC Commissioner Sanskriti Jain, Executive Engineer of BMC’s water works department Udit Garg, and Aditya Singh, Director of the State Government’s Department of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation went unanswered. Published - August 01, 2026 02:00 am IST