Urbanisation leads to disappearance of water bodies as authorities turn a blind eye.
Environmentalists and ecologists have sounded an alarm as the water bodies are fast disappearing, thanks to land reclamation and the large-scale construction work in the city.
Saying that the city will see more water logging and flooding in the days to come, conservation architect and ecologist Shweta Wagh held the civic body responsible for the present state of affairs.
“The problem is that many water bodies and other natural features have been classified as open spaces in the development plan. This means that they can be beautified or concretised. Water bodies are not viewed as ecosystems, and hydrology and its relation to the surroundings is not taken into account by the civic body,” Wagh said.
“Embankments, parks, jogging tracks on the edges of the water bodies, and concretisation in the catchment prevents recharge of water and its ecological relationship to its surrounding banks,” she added. So much so that landfills, reclamation and quarrying of hills to meet the development needs, have altered the city’s topography completely.
State chief secretary JK Banthia could not agree less: “The disappearance of water bodies in urban areas is a major cause for concern in the city,” he said.
The city with its 68 lakes is paying the ultimate price. “There’s major development and reclamation in the BKC, Powai and Aarey Milk Colony areas, which are classified as green zones. Encroachment and garbage dumping exacerbates the problem, which eventually lead to flooding and destruction of the environment,” Wagh said.
A 2009 study conducted by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stated that fish are major indicators of the health of water bodies. It added that only 33, or 23 of the city’s lakes showed signs of fish or fishing activity.
Elsie Gabriel, founder of the Young Environmentalists Programme trust in Powai, feels that with the monsoon approaching, the authorities should take good care to clean the water bodies. “Water bodies are appropriate holding areas for surface run-off water during the monsoon, which reduce water logging and flooding,” he said.
Gabriel, who is also a member of the ALMs of Powai, added, “There are 103 water bodies in the city which also face encroachment, dumping of waste and summertime evaporation loss.”
To cope with shortage of fresh water, the city can only bank on its wells. “But that is no longer an option,” said a researcher Prashant Shinde, who had conducted a study on the city’s wells in 2004. He complained that water from over 5,000 wells in Mumbai is being appropriated by the tanker mafia.
“In some areas where development takes place, the well is simply filled and shut down,” said Shinde, who works for Shrustidyan, a Mumbai-based organisation working for environmental concerns. “The potable water that exists is being extracted by each tanker for Rs400 and sold for Rs4,000.”
Groundwater is the property of the state but the authorities have not realised its value, lamented Shinde. “The water which belongs to the people is being sold by the mafia. The government, which has a state Act and a BMC Act to protect this water, has failed to apply them. The BMC commissioner can take over wells during a period of water scarcity,” he said.
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