Delay in setting up sewage treatment plants doing the damage, says NEERI.
Your city’s suffering on the coastal front. The quality of the sea water is worsening as also marine life. And the cause of all this damage is a delay in setting up two new sewage treatment plants although a World Bank-funded project had been approved years ago.
Sewage generated across Mumbai — over 2,600 million litres a day — is causing the damage. It flows out of your homes through seven treatment plants — Colaba, Worli, Bandra, Versova, Malad, Ghatkopar and Bhandup. About 45% of untreated human waste is flushed into two creeks and the Arabian Sea.
The existing treatment plants need an upgrade to keep pace with the city’s burgeoning population. Had a sewage treatment plant been installed, it would have filtered the waste before the water gushes out into the sea.
The seven existing facilities are old and need upgrading, admits Ashok Mhatre, chief engineer of Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project – a Rs4,000 crore World Bank-sponsored plan. “The upgrading project has not yet kicked off. At three of the existing plants, we cannot start work due to problems, including encroachment and land disputes,” said Mhatre.
Mumbai-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) had conducted a study of water quality along the coast in 2008. However, measures recommended to salvage the environment were not implemented by the municipal corporation, said an official from NEERI, who asked not to be named.
Director of NEERI, Rakesh Kumar, says that the situation along Mumbai’s coast has deteriorated due to open defecation and slums. “No new sewage treatment plants have come up since the study was done, ” said Kumar.
A report by NEERI revealed that of the total 2,671.30mld (million litres a day) of waste water generated in the city, about 1,248 mld ends up polluting the shoreline.
A look at the city’s demographics would call for urgent remedial measures. Mumbai’s population rose from 9.9million in 1991 to 12.7 million in 2005 — that’s a 28 per cent jump in 15 years. And estimates have it that the population could breach the 16million mark by 2025.
In December 2011, city authorities had plans to set up three new sewage treatment plants. In May 2012, there were plans to set up waste water treatment plants at Bandra and Malad. None of these projects has seen the light of day.
A joint report put out by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and NEERI indicates how analysis of fish catch around Versova shows that marine species are impacted adversely due to high levels of heavy metals. “Fish-breeding areas near shores have been spoilt due to construction, reclamation [of land] and increased load of sewage in these areas,” says the report.
Environment activists point out how rapid urbanisation itself is harming the environment.
“Reclamation of Mithi river, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Lokhandwala and the sea link have led to destruction of mangroves. This has adversely affected nature’s way of recycling effluents,” said a city-based activist.
HOW CLEAN WAS MY SEA
A delay in setting up two new sewage treatment plants is battering the city’s sea water and marine life.
Presently, Mumbai has treatment plants which are pretty ancient and desperately need an upgrade.
Nearly 45% of untreated human waste is flushed into two creeks and the Arabian Sea, causing the marine environment to suffer.
2,671.30 That’s the daily amount of sewage (in million litres) that the city generates.
45% of this gets flushed into two creeks and the Arabian Sea.
Population explosion
Mumbai’s population has risen by 28 per cent between 1991 and 2005. It is expected to cross 16million by 2025.
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