Other `pollution busters'

Gregory Spanier discovered that a pigment manufacturing plant owned by Pfizer Inc. was polluting one of his favorite trout streams near Easton, Pa. He brought suit against the company in federal court, forcing it to stop the dumping. Pfizer also agreed to pay $30,000 to Trout Unlimited, a group that fights encroachment on the nation's trout streams. Alex Dely, a physics professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, found toxic chemicals in that city's water supply. He traced the problem to inadequately treated municipal sewage. Dely sued the county, forcing it to spend $300,000 to correct the problem.

Policeman Joseph Turner found that a private school near his home in Langhorne, Pa., was pouring illegal amounts of sewage into a local creek. He brought suit, but later settled out of court. The school agreed to phase out the treatment plant and contribute $10,000 to the state's Environmental Defense Foundation.

John and Helen Newsome of Ligon, Ky., learned that their drinking water was being polluted by a coal company that dumped wastes in abandoned mine shafts. They sued the company, then settled when the firm agreed to buy their house, pay a fine, and stop the dumping.