Navsari, Gujarat, Oct. 29 -- Retired army man Satish Patel, 50, laments that water from the rivulet running behind his home is no longer fit for consumption, even for cattle. When he was a child, his family directly used water from the barely 10-foot-wide stream that has no official name but is locally called Chanandevi.

Today, the water has changed colour. "During the monsoon, when fish reach here from upstream, they die," he says.

Patel blames pollution from the massive solar cell and module manufacturing plant across the stream from his house. Operated by Waaree Energies Ltd, the poster child of India's clean energy push, the factory has been releasing untreated industrial water right into Chanandevi, Patel alleges.

The stream cuts ...