As previously explained, the Damodar River and the waterways it flows into are contaminated with toxic substances. Unclean water has negative health connotations for people that rely on this water downstream for domestic uses and drinking. Not only is the water already polluted with the usual toxins, but mining accidents occasionally rise these levels to concentrations that could seriously harm humans. After one particularly drastic accident from a furnace leak, oil gushed into the Damodar River. Consequently, oil levels were forty to eighty times higher than the maximum safe amount. Over three million people are dependent upon these unsafe water sources.