India ‘s Minamata Singrauli, the powerhouse of India with massive coal reserves and many thermal power plants, should have been prosperous. But it is poor and polluted. People complain of unex- plained ailments. Non-profit Centre for Science and Environment decided to investigate and found that mer- cury, a deadly toxin in coal, is slowly entering people’s homes, food, water and even body. MADHYA PRADESH Singrauli C S E L A B S T U D Y OBRA TELGUDWA DUDHINAGAR Khairahi Kushmaha Kirwani Obra township Obra TPP Shakthi Nagar TPP Vindhyanagar TPP Obra Dam Rihand Dam Renuka river Murdhawa nallah Dongiya nallah Gobind Ballabh Pant Sagar (GBPS) reservoir Balliya nallah Dalla Cement Factory Hi Tech Carbon Hindalco industries Aditya Birla Chemicals Limited (Erstwhile Kannoria Chemicals) Turrapipri Renukut Kakri township Garbandha Dibulganj Bina township Chilika Daad Lanco township NCL Kakri Mines NCL Bina Mines NCL Khadia Mines Renu sagar TPP ANPARA SINGRAULI SHAKTI NAGAR WAIDHAN UTTAR PRADESH Sonbhadra LEGEND Fish samples Nallah Ash dykes Mines Dam River Road Industry Thermal Power Plants (TPP) Khairahi - Kirwani Mercury in humans (n=3) Average mercury level Blood: 66.68 ppb Hair: 1.806 ppm Nail: 1.06 ppm Maximum mercury level Blood: 113.48 ppb Hair: 10.92 ppm Nail: 3.04 ppm Soil Mercury: 1.75 ppm Anpara Soil Mercury: 1.64 ppm Drinking water Mercury : 0.008 ppm Dibulganj Mercury in humans (n=5) Average mercury level Blood: 32.412 ppb Hair: 16.758 ppm Nail: 0.418 ppm Maximum mercury level Blood: 61.47 ppb Hair: 31.32 ppm Nail: 2.09 ppm Drinking water Mercury : 0.026 ppm Soil Mercury: 1.75 ppm Kirwani Soil Mercury: 0.5 ppm Renukut Soil Mercury: 10.09 ppm Kushmaha Soil Mercury: 0.57 ppm Obra Mercury in humans (n=3) Average mercury level Blood: 27.38 ppb Hair: 2.673ppm Nail: 0.0026 ppm Maximum mercury level Blood: 29.92 ppb Hair: 6.85 ppm Nail: 0.026 ppm Soil Mercury: 0.42 ppm Dongiya Nallah Effluent Sample Mercury : 0.127 ppm GBPS (Near Dongiya Nallah) Surface water sample Mercury : 0.01 ppm GBPS (Near Dongiya Nallah) Fish sample Methyl mercury : 0.447 ppm GBPS (Near Balliya Nallah) Methyl mercury level Fish : 0.505 ppm Chilika Daad Mercury in humans (n=8) Average mercury level Blood: 25.9 ppb Hair: 4.0275 ppm Nail: 1.2125 ppm Maximum mercury level Blood: 78.68 ppb Hair: 30.66 ppm Nail: 1.215 ppm Soil Mercury: 1.75 ppm Mercury standard SAMPLES STANDARD SOURCE Blood 5.8 ppb United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) Hair 6.0 ppm Health Department, Canada Nail no standard Water 0.001 ppm Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) Effluent 0.01 ppm Environment Protection Act, 1986 Soil no standard Methyl Mercury standard Fish 0.25 ppm Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI)