In a "green" state, an environmental disaster looms

The untreated industrial wastewater and irrigation returns have become the real threat to the aquatic life of the Chenab River, while the declining water flow of the river is aggravating the situation, a report of Punjab Irrigation Department has revealed.

Times have changed since stretches of the River Thames were declared "biologically dead" in the 1950s. A colony of seahorses was revealed to have made the London waterway its home this week, joining more than 100 species of fish, dolphins, seals, porpoises and the occasional whale spotted in the murky waters in recent years.

Seahorses Found In Cleaner Thames UK: April 8, 2008 LONDON - Marine biologists believe seahorses could be breeding in the Thames as the river becomes cleaner. About five short-snouted seahorses, (Hippocampus hippocampus) have been spotted during routine conservation surveys, leading scientists to think they have probably established a resident population. The news has been kept secret until now because the seahorse has not been protected. But from Monday, the marine creature and its environment will have protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.

An initial probe into the causes of the death of a large number of fish found on Sunday revealed that a high concentration of toxics in the backwaters of the Karachi harbour was responsible for the killing thousands of fish. The investigation was carried out by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and the results of a chemical analysis will be released within 10 days. No evidence has been found to support the idea that the fish

Industrial waste threatens aquatic life in Indus RAMZAN CHANDIO KARACHI - The untreated industrial wastewater and irrigation returns has become the real threat to the aquatic life of the Indus River, while the declining water flow of the river is aggravating the situation. It was disclosed in an official report by Sindh Irrigation Department.

The discovery of a colony of short-snouted seahorses (Hippocampus hippocampus) living in the Thames means that the London river is becoming cleaner, conservationists said today. Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have discovered five seahorses during routine conservation surveys in the Thames estuary in the past 18 months, evidence which they say indicates that a breeding population exists.

Paulson Urges China To Scrap Pollution Tariffs CHINA: April 4, 2008 BEIJING - China should drop the barriers it maintains against foreign-made anti-pollution equipment as a means of quickly cleaning up its dirty air and water, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Thursday. In prepared remarks for delivery to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in which he praised the value of a "strategic economic dialogue" between the two countries, Paulson also welcomed China's action in letting the yuan rise in value.

Dumping of solid waste and garbage by the banks of the Kalang and the Morikalang is one of the main reasons of water pollution in the region, although people here have been using the water of these ri