Amazon dam project frozen: A Brazilian judge has issued a restraining order on a controversial dam in the Amazon basin. In response to a suit, the court ruled that the government has illegally

AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday demanded that the sand quarry across Gundaru river in Tiruchuzhi taluk in Virudhunagar district should be closed down immediately as all norms for quarrying had been violated there affecting the ground water table in the area, besides causing serious and horrible drinking water scarcity. AIADMK cadre will stage a demonstration in front of Tiruchuzhi taluk office on May 29 protesting the mindless sand quarrying which had been going on across Gundaru, Jayalalithaa said in a statement here.

Balasun river: Horses are proving to be as effective as heavy machinery in the hills of Darjeeling. Hydraulic excavators on crawler belts using air compressors to break huge boulders are working alongside ponies on the banks of the Balasun as the company executing the Darjeeling Water Supply Scheme tries to meet its December 2009 deadline. The Hyderabad-based construction company, Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, stumbled on the idea of using horses after they observed the local villagers.

Kerala is examining the possibilities of exercising its riparian rights to seek higher allocation from the Parambikulam-Aliyar rivers in view of the steep increase in utilisation of water from the river basins of the Bharathapuzha and the Chalakudi. The matter was discussed at a high-level review meeting convened by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan here on Monday in preparation of the Chief Secretary-level conference to be held in the State capital on May 30.

After scripting a turnaround in the fortunes of the Indian Railways, union minister Lalu Prasad has now envisioned the prospect of utilising surplus water from various rivers using large pipes for the country's 24,000-km railway tracks. "The railways is like an empire, it is a league apart, its vast network criss-crossing across the country can help the government in water management," said the minister, who was in Malaysia to witness the signing of a railway double track contract awarded to public sector company IRCON by the Malaysian government.

Scientists, environmentalists and experts will deliberate on Goa's water woes at a one-day workshop organised by the Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan at Old Goa on May 17 in the premises of Kunkolienkar Higher Secondary School. Titled Goa's water security: Present scenario and future challenges, the workshop will go into the present status of Mhadei and Virdi dam projects and rivers namely Terekhol, Chapora, Baga, Zuari, Sal, Talpona and others.

With only two weeks to go for the pre-monsoon deadline for road and drain works to be completed, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is struggling to meet the demands of the newfound stress on preparedness for disasters. First, even after allocating an additional Rs 110 crore for its works on widening and deepening the Mithi river, officials are unable to promise that a swollen Mithi will not cause floods as it did in 2005.

A sharp fall in the water level of the Ganga downstream from Narora in Bulandshahr district of western Uttar Pradesh has fuelled fears of the grand old river being reduced to a trickle at the holy Sangam in Allahabad. The fall in the level of the river, considered the lifeline of the State since ancient times, has set alarm bells ringing. The state of the river in Varanasi is no better than in Allahabad.

JAMUNA river erosion has taken a serious turn in the Brahmaputra Right Embankment area in Sirajganj and Bogra, so did on the eve of the current dry season. With the changing trends, the mighty Jamuna is directly hitting the flood control embankment at Sailabari and Shimla points under sadar upazila, Shubhagachha and Meghai points under Kazipur upazila in Sirajganj. Similarly, it is also hitting at Bhanderbari point under Dhunat upazila, Talukdarpara and Karnabari points under Sariakandi upazila in Bogra.