High-profile campaigner assists US town's water quality investigation

Erin Brockovich, a campaigner brought into the public eye by a film starring Julia Roberts, has visited Fennville in Michigan to help locals and authorities investigate water quality in the area.

An industrial plant owned by food manufacturer Birds Eye has been accused by the department of environmental quality of spilling wastewater in Fennville and contaminating local wells and water supplies with arsenic, manganese and iron in the process.

Ms Brockovich, along with local press and residents, visited the area to pledge her support for an investigation into Birds Eye's operations, reports Freedom Communications.

Following a statement from the firm acknowledging a water quality problem, the activist replied: "Whether Birds Eye intended for this to happen or not, it's here and it has to be cleaned up, and these people have to be taken care of."

In 1996, a case brought to court by Erin Brockovich and Ed Mastry resulted in the Pacific Gas and Electric Company being ordered to pay out US$333 million (£228 million) in damages to over 600 residents of Hinkley in California. The firm was found guilty of contaminating local water supplies with the toxic chemical Chromium 6.