Pollution is actionable without proof of actual damage
"The pollution of a natural stream is a wrong actionable at the suit of any riparian owner past whose land the water so polluted flows, and, as we have just seen, pollution even of underground water is also actionable. The term pollution is here used in a wide sense to include any alteration of the natural quality of the water whereby it is rendered less fit for any purpose for which in its natural state it is capable of being used. Thus, it is actionable to raise the temperature of the stream by discharging into it hot water from a factory, or to make soft water hard by discharging into the stream water impregnated with lime, no less than to pollute the stream by pouring into it the sewage of a town or the chemical refuse from a factory....."
Madras High Court
Pakkle And Ors. vs P. Aiyasami Ganapathi And Ors. on 5 January, 1968
Equivalent citations: AIR 1969 Mad
