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Flowing into oblivion

Architect and urban conservationist Vikram Pawar explains why it's so important to revive and save the few rivers that flow through Mumbai

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Mumbai's evident cultural history is more than 2,000 years old and the existence of its rivers, the Dahisar, Poisar, Oshiwara and Mithi (on Salsette Island alone) along with the smaller streams and rivulets, is even older. The island city then described as 'the city of seven islands' with hills, had its fair share of these natural monsoon water flows. What remains today are names like Pydhonie (meaning washing of feet), which marked the mouth of the first creek to be claimed, and Mahul.

Back in time

For ages, these rivers have flowed like any other river on the western coast – a trickle of a stream through most of the year, supporting a rich biodiversity. This then converts into a turbulent rapid carrying the eroded red soil from the vulnerable environments of the hilly forest, threatening and destroying all that comes in its path.
The process of claiming more land for the city by way of flattening the hills and filling up the creeks and low lying marshlands started with British colonisers. A century later, this practice of claiming (not reclaiming) low lying water bodies and encroaching river edges, supposedly due to urban pressure has led to the current state of the rivers. This state best can be described as open drains carrying more than 50 per cent of domestic sewage water generated in the suburbs and dumping it untreated into our estuaries and seas.

Troublemakers

To add to its woes, solid waste, especially the ones tied in plastic bags and loose plastic waste, choke the river flow, stagnating the black/grey water and eventually leading to stench, unhygienic conditions and diseases. What once nourished life and health today is being treated as a mere surface drain. Residents along Daulat Nagar and Mhatre Wadi along the Dahisar river fondly remember how they swam, bathed, fished and played in the river until the '80s.

In the aftermath of the 2005 floods, the singular focus seems to be of 'training' or taming the rivers, notwithstanding the impact on the health and well-being of the rivers. These high concrete walls and concrete river floor beds, in the name of training solutions, have further reinforced the obliteration of the rivers from the city's collective conscious and memory.

Current status

The fact finding committee report on Mumbai floods of July 2005 has argued that 'training' of rivers is necessary for rivers in reclaimed areas. Unfortunately, the civic administration seems to have generalised that all the rivers have been modulated on account of reclamation – planned or otherwise. The Mouth of Oshiwara, Poisar, Mithi rivers and Vakola, Irla, Moragaon and many other nullahs draining into Mahul, Thane, Mahim, Versova, Manori and Gorai Creeks have changed course per the patterns of city growth.

However, the same cannot be said about the upper reaches of the rivers and almost the whole of the Dahisar, which has maintained its course and has had definitive flood patterns at least in the past 400 years. Within the same report, the committee has urged that detailed investigations should be carried out; these should include contour profiling for the entire catchment and demarcation of flood line profile of one in 10 years, one in 25 years and one in 100 years. It has further recommended making of a holistic plan considering the geographic boundaries of the catchment area and laid emphasis on ecological revival of riverbed and its edges. Much of this wisdom seems to have been ignored in the singular quest of concretising the river bed and edges, leading to a sterile channel devoid of a healthy eco-habitat.

Time to act

With the chronic water crisis in the region, rainwater harvesting through groundwater recharge and wastewater recycling should be adopted by all to call it a success. Many of these rainwater harvesting practices were prevalent along the river and the streams in the pre-pipeline era. While some of the wells survive, they are most likely on their way to extinction unless we as citizens forge a collective will to conserve them.

The current black/grey river water can be treated before being released into the rivers and water bodies. A number of technologies – dewats, soil biotechnology, bio and phyto remediation to name a few – are available within the country to treat these seemingly enormous volumes of 'waste water'. The management of solid waste, domestic and street garbage, cattle waste from tabelas, small-scale industrial waste and most importantly plastic, requires the common man to play an active role in composting wet waste at source, segregation of waste and its appropriate disposal and ensure that the civic administration reciprocates suitably.

Way forward

Arresting the pollution at source and treating it or directing it to be recycled is the need of the hour, instead of allowing it to pollute and destroy the health of our environment and our rivers. As the city grows into a metropolitan region, it is important that we set standards and demonstrate healthy living practices, which includes our environment and rivers and not ignore them into oblivion. We have to start by making a choice – a choice of having healthy river habitat and water bodies as our front yards.

Mumbai's water bodies

4: Number of Rivers: Dahisar, Poisar, Oshiwara, Mithi
3: Number of Bays: Mahim, Haji Ali, Worli (bay like)
5: Creeks in which the rivers and nullahs drain: Thane, Mahim, Versova, Manori, Gorai
53: Total number of catchment zones draining water directly into creeks
13291 ha: Total area of such catchment zones
Source: Final Report: Fact Finding Committee on Mumbai Floods Vol I March 2006

Worrying numbers 

504,000,000 litres:Estimated total volume of waste water polluting our rivers and nullahs (considering that waste water generated in informal settlements, which is at 60 per cent of city population, finds its way into rivers/nullahs without treatment)
600 to 800 MT Daily: Estimated total solid waste finding its way into rivers.(assuming only 10 per cent of the solid waste is formally collected by BMC and corroborated by the daily dredged load from the rivers and nullahs during 3 months of pre-monsoon clean-up)

The dying river

Shraddha Manvi Shirodkar, who lived in a society near Poisar river for more than two decades, paints a different picture of the condition of this river: "In the late '80s, this river was a scenic attraction that could be viewed from my residence – it looked like a silver, bluish necklace snaking through greenery. When it would be fill up during the monsoon, it swelled up into a massive body of water. Sadly, 28 years later, it's been reduced to a nullah with filthy water. Today, when I refer to it as a river, people express and correct me saying, 'It's a nullah, not a river.' If only they had seen it in its pristine shape decades ago!"

(The author is a practising architect with specialisation in urban conservation. A founding member of Water Environs and a technical team member of the 'River March Movement', he is also a faculty member at KRVIA, Juhu)

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