At least three children died of waterborne diseases in three days and on an average one person was losing life every fortnight in the villages on the embankment of Manchhar Lake because its water had become too toxic for human consumption, found a survey on Sunday. The survey conducted by Dawn found that people in the villages particularly women and children, suffered from waterborne diseases like gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, malaria etc.

UNLESS there is heavy rain in the Murray-Darling Basin over the rest of the year, 90% of South Australians face environmental catastrophe caused by the movement of heavy metals in solution up the river by osmosis. Osmosis is the process by which any solution that is in higher concentration in one part of a body of fluid will flow into the other parts with a lower concentration until the solution is evenly distributed.

Nearly 300 residents of over 10 societies near Charkop lake, a 50-year-old water body, fear that construction on the lake is going to adversely affect them in the coming monsoon. In February, the residents had raised a red flag over partial filling of the six-acre lake for a housing project. Consequently, on February 20, the Mumbai Suburban Collector's office issued a notice to stop the land-filling till further notice and ordered a high-level inquiry into the issue.

The worst fears about the Garden City's once salubrious temperature rising beyond comfort levels appear to be coming true... A recent study by the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, has revealed that the temperature has shot up by an alarming three degrees in the past decade alone! The study, conducted by scientist Dr T V Ramachandra and research scholar Uttam Kumar has cited the loss of vegetation and water bodies and rise in anthropogenic pressure as the prime factors behind the temperature rise.

In a "green" state, an environmental disaster looms

An agreement which defines acceptable use of water from North America's Great Lakes has been thrashed out by farmers, industrialists, environmentalists and politicians. The Great Lakes in Northeast America are a huge natural resource but fears have been raised that piping the water to parched areas of the USA would lead to ecological disaster in the long term. The Great Lakes Compact aims to strike a balance between the needs of the region's industry and ecology.

The polluted Hirohalli village lake on the outskirts of the City now has rare visitors: the critically endangered spot billed pelicans.