Contaminated Drinking Water Incident at Indian Campus Exposes Infrastructure Flaws

A major public health incident erupted at Devaraha Baba Medical College in Deoriya, Uttar Pradesh, India: Cleaners discovered a highly decomposed male corpse in a water tower that had supplied drinking water to the entire campus—including students, faculty, and outpatient clinic patients—for nearly ten days. During this period, some individuals experienced gastrointestinal discomfort, but the issue was not promptly linked to water contamination, exposing failures in monitoring mechanisms. The decomposing body caused foul odors in the water supply. Local authorities immediately suspended the principal and deployed water tankers, but preliminary investigations revealed the water tower lacked protective barriers at its entrance and had long been without regular water quality testing.