What Erin Brockovich, a twice-divorced mother of two and a legal clerk, did to the small South Californian town Hinkley by taking on a corporation as huge as PG&E is part of American activism history Sukinda, in Orissa, has . not been as lucky despite scores of citizens' reports, environment assessment studies and a green brigade's non-relenting crusade.

While Sindh has become a key battleground for the eradication of polio from the country, its newly inducted Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed on Thursday declared that an increase in polio cases was mainly due to the use of polluted water. The minister asked the district governments to ensure supply of clean drinking water to their respective populations.

The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to form a river basin authority for smooth implementation of the Pampa Action Plan. It recommended issue of an Ordinance to the Governor for constituting the authority on an urgent basis. The Pampa River Basin Authority, as per the proposed Ordinance, will have powers to take executive decisions on implementation of various projects under the Action Plan. The Plan aims at controlling the pollution of the river.

THE Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the State Government on a public interest writ petition that sought to put the administration on the mat for releasing untreated sewage water directly or indirectly into the city's waterways. Petitioner V Ravichandran, founder-chairman of an NGO, Cit izens Guardians, alleged that the government was not implementing the Chennai City River Conservation Project in its letter and spirit. A vacation bench comprising justices G Rajasuria and M Sathyanarayanan ordered notice to the authorities concerned, returnable in four weeks.

The health officials, investigating contamination of seven wells in Taleigao today indicated that it may be due to mixture of ammonia in ground water. Though the final laboratory report on the water samples of five wells, is expected on Friday, sources in the department indicated that it may be due to mixture of ammonia. Samples of two others were not taken as they are in close proximity with the four. Last week seven wells in Chincholem and four in Borbhat, from Taleigao were reported to be contaminated with dead fish floating over the whitish colour water giving a foul smell.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for chalking out a multi-pronged time-bound strategy to achieve the objective of "safe drinking water for all' through proper monitoring of rural water supply schemes by the application of reverse osmosis (RO), silver ionisation and ultra-violet techniques depending on the quality of water.

the Sirsi district court in Karnataka has sentenced A H Gurumurthya, former municipal commissioner, to 18 months of imprisonment for releasing untreated sewage into two tanks in 2001-02. The