NEWPORT - Newport County ranks in the worst 20 percent of all United States counties in health problems connected to diesel pollution, according to the National Clean Air Task Force.

And a half-dozen Thompson Middle School students are doing their part to ease the problem. The students stood outside the school Wednesday afternoon holding signs that featured messages like "We Don't Want to Die."

Korena Johnson, a seventhgrader, jotted down the number of diesel-powered vehicles - such as buses and construction equipment - that drove up and down Broadway in half-an-hour. "We love this earth," she said. "We don't want anything bad to happen to it."

The pollution patrol was part of an after-school program run by Clean Water Action of Providence. Campaign organizer Michael Coates ran the demonstration. "We want the kids to have an idea of how much diesel potentially goes into the air right outside their own school," he said.

NEWPORT - Kids, parents and neighborhood leaders are pushing the City Council to crack down on diesel pollution, pointing to relatively high levels of air toxics released near schools and in densely populated areas throughout the city.

Thompson Middle School students last week conducted a ‘pollution patrol’ in front of the Newport school on Broadway. (Michael Coates/Clean Water Action)

As a major tourist destination with one of the densest populations in Rhode Island, Newport shoulders the burden of air pollution on Aquidneck Island, according to the state chapter of Clean Water Action.

Nearly 25,000 vehicles travel through Newport on an average summer day, with many idling in the midst of traffic jams or while waiting for parking. Newport pays a high price for this congestion, not only in frustration on the part of drivers but also in the health burden that residents endure as a result, according to Clean Water Action.

It’s not often that an issue can bring together 17 public- interest groups from across Rhode Island.

But the pressing matter of water conservation did just that, and the Coalition for Water Security’s efforts resulted in comprehensive legislation being approved last week by the General Assembly.

The Water Use and Efficiency Act, if approved by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, would encourage conservation by raising rates for users who waste water and giving discounts to those who limit their consumption. What better way to influence consumers’ behavior than by directly impacting their checking accounts?

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The city of Providence has been awarded a federal grant which will help with pollution control in the city.

The $565,000 grant will pay to install diesel emissions-reducing technology on 42 city trucks. They will be installed on city trucks purchased from 1997-2005, including dump trucks, snowplows, street sweepers, and other diesel vehicles in the city's Public Works, Parks, Recreation, Traffic Engineering, and Communications departments.

For Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, water conservation has been an issue close at hand for decades. As a farmer, water is essential to maintaining her business, Sosnowski Farm in South Kingstown. And even though the R.I. Water Resources Board has been around since the 1960s, the agency has never had any comprehensive statewide policy for water conservation, she said.