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Cover page was taken from: www.realestatesizzle.com

storey residential architecture, and the earliest

evidences of provision of public amenities such as

a sewerage and drainage system. Most houses

in Mohenjodaro had bathrooms, some inclusive

of latrines, built on the street side of the building.

The water-discharge sluices from the houses first

collected dirt in small cesspits (the ancient version

of our present day septic tanks and grit chambers)

lined with tightly sealed bricks at the base of the

walls from which dirty water was led to the main

drains running through the middle of the street

covered with flat stones and tile bricks. Apparently

these cesspits were cleaned out from time to time,

as were the settling basins or soakage pits

located along the street drains. The covered

drains were connected to the larger sewerage

Drainage

We read about civilizations, civilizations

that existed once, but are lost - some

submerged under the great oceans on

earth and some entered the womb of earth. Out

of them there are some civilizations which

flourished and then vanished, leaving epics of their

glorious past but with no successor to inherit the

knowledge.

We credit civic hygiene and modern sanitation to

the communitarian sensibilities of the society

conscious, urban city man. But such concepts as

‘civic sense’ and ‘urban development’ that are so

intrinsic to our smug belief in the modernity of

present-day settlements are not as original as we

would like to believe. Evidence from civilizations

that date back to nearly five thousand years ago

provides proof for the earliest systems of public

works and civic amenities. So how ‘modern’ were

our ancients?

In terms of town planning and engineering, the

ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro of the

Indus Valley Civilization (dated around 2750 B.C.)

can perhaps be considered as two of man’s great

civilizational treasures. Excavations reveal well-

walled orderly cities with spacious, often two-

T i m e s B. C.

from

Drainage Channel of The civilisation

Taken from: www.mohenjodaro.net

2 YELLOW | JUL-DEC 2008

JUL-DEC 2008 | YELLOW 3

outlets (also covered), which finally let the dirty

water outside the inhabited area. Where baths

and latrines were located on the upper floor they

were drained usually by vertical terra-cotta pipes

with closely fitting spigot joints set in the building

wall. These pipes can be seen as the earliest

version of the modified vitrified clay spigot-and-

socket sewer pipes. Every lane and street had

at least one drainage channel covered with brick

or stone tiles that could be lifted. The drains were

usually 18 inches to 24 inches below the street

level, and varied in dimensions from 12 inches

deep and 9 inches wide to about 24 inches deep

and 18 inches wide.

Some houses in Harappa also had rubbish chutes

built into the walls descending from the upper

floors at the foot of which were bins at the street

level.

Archaeological excavations bring to surface the

sketch of some of the earliest planned cities put

together with elegant innovation by some of the

world’s first civil engineers. And it is all thanks to

them I can flush without a worry!

“Is it just a quirk of fate that the country which

formulated the urban plan is facing problems like

flood and famine due to inadequate planning? “

Priest King from IndusValley Civilisation

Taken from geocities.comThe Priest King of Indus Valley civilisationTaken from: www.mohenjodaro.net

Priest King From The civilisation

Taken from: www.mohenjodaro.net

Identity, something which distinguishes ‘man’ from

‘person’, something a man toils all his life for,

something which gives one a feeling of self-

accomplishment and something which minority

always fears to be trodden by majority. So what if

I struggle to survive and in due course men loose

their lives?

By now you might be inquisitive to make out who

I am and what I am talking about. No not a

revolutionist or reformer trying to change this

world. Not even an influential politician attempting

to grab few more votes. I am a river, river who

witnessed birth of a city at its bank. Like a mother

I nurtured the city to prosper and thrive. In dry

provided them water. Then the rain came, I

diverted the inundation. Offered exquisite

landscape to relax as the city grew arduous and

antsy. For this entire benevolence city gave me

my name MITHI meaning sweet.

But gradually city grew inconsiderate. For all my

kinds they started dumping toxic chemicals in me.

They started using me to discharge raw sewage,

industrial waste and garbage and encroached

upon by illegal buildings and official reclamation.

Illegal activities of washing of oily drums,

discharge of unauthorized hazardous waste are

also carried out along my course. Construction of

airport wall and the Mahim causeway have eaten

up my space and restricted me to a small nallah. I

am constricted to a third of my original width.

Besides this, the pollution has reached an

alarming stage causing threat to marine life.

I am river always taught to flow. Life that bloomed

inside my water was dying. River where oyster

beds used to spawn echoed with mourn of fishes.

Deep inside an urge to get my identity back

developed. City could be the worst but how could

I be appalling. I decided to forewarn. June 1985

and then again 13 July 2000, Mumbai recorded

exceptionally heavy rainfall: Vasai 49, Thane 45,

Santa Cruz 37 and Colaba 25 cm. . Flood was

reported in Mithi River. Vihar and Tulsi lakes

overflowed, causing damage to 240 families

staying in encroachments along the Mithi. But city

was in deep slumber;I decided to wake them up.

26 June 2005: heavy downpour in Mumbai. A

“tropical depression” wedged itself over the

central-northern suburbs, and above the Mithi

River. By the end of the first week, the official death

toll was 500, though many put it close to 1,000. I

attracted city’s attention. Consequently, Mithi

restoration plan came out for implementation

under MRDPA5 created specifically for its

development. Remedial efforts and reforms of

government have given me a optimism that life

will again bloom and I will get my identity back.


Tracing MithiSattelite View of The River Which hasremained no more than a nallah

Courtesy: Google.com

Tracing MithiSattelite View of The River which has remained nomore than a nallah

Courtesy: Google

Old days will be back. Migratory birds will come

again. I will feel my life again and Mumbai will love

me again.

The Mithi is a confluence of tail water discharges

from Powai and Vihar lakes. Originating at Powai,

the Mithi flows through Saki Naka, Safed Pool,

around Santacruz airstrip, passing through thickly

populated and industrial areas like Jarimari, Bail

Bazar, old airport road, Kalina (CST road), Vakola,

Bandra-Kurla complex and Dharavi, before meeting

the Arabian Sea at Mahim creek, completing a

journey 17.9 kilometers long that doesn’t quite

qualify it as the world’s shortest river!

Maximum discharge possible without causing any

spill over of 50 cumecs, a discharge corresponding

to a once-in-50-yrs-rainfall (382.5 mm per hour)

or once-in-100-yrs-rainfall (418.3 mm per hour)

averaged throughout the stream length, will cause

severe flooding in surrounding areas. The initial

reaches of the river (until it reaches the Santa

Cruz Airport) are narrow and steep, causing swift

discharge of water. The downstream segments,

in contrast, have flat slopes. Though the river in

these reaches opens up a little, the increase in

width is not enough to prevent water from

accumulating. A constricted passageway, absence

of holding ponds and increased runoff, all thanks

to widespread ‘development’ and continuing

concretization of open spaces, make matters

worse.

Experts opine that the river bed upstream of the


Mithi Near The AirportThe state has also proposed erecting a wall so the airport runway canremain clear during monsoon. The river runs right below the runway.

Taken From The Hindu

Board (MPCB) surveyed Kherani Road area in Saki

Naka. Officers were greeted by large volumes of

poisonous wastes and plastics choking open

storm water drains and foul smelling waters

flowing onto the street in several places. The

survey found hundreds of illegal units involved

in cleaning plastic, recycling lead from batteries

and manufacturing dyes - all processes that give

out harmful effluents. To make a start, MPCB

issued show cause notices to a handful of worst

offenders and later backed it up with summons

to a hearing. None of the respondents appeared

at the hearing. When MPCB officials went back

to the site, they realized that the fly-by-night

operators had shifted base out of their earlier

shack and now possibly worked from another

gala in the same market place.

Unable to deal with small time crooks, the MPCB

passed the buck to the Brihanmumbai Municipal

Corporation (BMC). The coorporation however

was not able to demolish the structures as the

shacks themselves were legal while the

operators carrying out illegal operations were

tenants. A mere technicality and lack of inter-

departmental co-ordination is poisoning the lives

of thousands in Saki Naka till today even. Scores

of such cases are pending before the judiciary

where the defaulters fight for time and the

administrators appear laidback. The river

meanwhile rots.

Illegal hutments proliferate along the banks of

the Mithi, particularly in its middle reaches. The

river has been squeezed tight on both sides.

Devoid of a flood plain, the littlest unforeseen

rainfall causes chaos. The river needs

desperately to be widened, and for that the

slums will have to go.

CST Bridge should be deepened by 2 meters to

slow down discharge in the upper reaches and

increase the river’s holding capacity.

Saki Naka is the river’s entry point to the city. A

lot of the Mithi’s worries begin in Saki Naka, an

official green belt that swarms with hundreds of

unauthorized industrial units that produce

harmful chemical effluents. IIT Bombay, after a

study carried out in 2005, reported the entire

river stretch to be contaminated by heavy metals.

A number of citizens, NGOs and politicians have

made efforts to clean and maintain this water

body, but with little success. Acting on complaints

from locals, the Maharashtra Pollution Control


The illegal commercial units on the banks ofthe Mithi river

Taken From The Hindu

The illegal commercial units on the banks ofthe Mith i riverTaken From The Hindu

Mumbai Flood“Act of God or Inaction of Human”

Taken from: irevolution.wordpress.com

26th July 2005, Mumbai recorded it’s highest-

ever rainfall in a single day. As the statisticians

put the now famous but then mind-boggling figure

of 944 mm, one realises the hollowness of our

very own achievements. Meteorologists went into

a huddle, BMC started digging its trenches,

“experts” haplessly grappled with facts, news

channels promptly thrashed any official they could

lay their hands on, and everyone felt it was best

to leave the people of Mumbai to their own

devices.

Santa Cruz, in north Mumbai, recorded a rainfall

of 94.4 cm on 26th July. Rainfall over Vihar Lake

was 105 cm. The previous record of heaviest 24-

hour rainfall over Mumbai was 58 cm for Santa

Cruz. Although Colaba, in Mumbai’s southern tip

recorded just 7.3 cm, the rainfall which was in no

way atypical.

Low lying areas of the city were as good as a

part of the sea. The Eastern and Western

Expressways could easily have been mistaken for

rivers. Slums were converted to ponds. The Mithi

River was flooded and water gushed into the

surrounding regions. People waded through

water or were forced to remain in water for many

hours. The water-logging affected transport and

electric supply and disrupted the daily life for the

next seven days. It was estimated that at least

3 million citizens remained in contact with at least

knee-deep water for over one hour. For the very

first time, the Navy has had to step in for rescue

operations in Mumbai’s suburbs. Kalina went

under water on 26th night. Two teams of naval

divers were sent by road to the area. In many

parts of Mumbai, naval helicopters were used to

drop food. Naval boats and diving teams were

also standing by to assist in Karanja north of

Mumbai.

Transport statistics of the city

52 local trains damaged

37,000 rickshaws & 4,000 taxis spoilt

900 BEST buses damaged

10,000 trucks and tempos stranded

Mumbai’s vital systems got a severe trounce.

Majority of railway tracks were submerged in

water. Many long distance trains got cancelled

else halted or terminated at nearby secure cities

like Valsad in gujrat. Of the 2,412 city buses,

another lifeline of the city, only 394 plied. Flights

could not land in the city. For the first time ever,

Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Sahar

and Juhu aerodrome were shut for more than 30

hours due to water logging water logging of the

runways and extremely poor visibility. Over 700

flights were cancelled or delayed. Mumbai-Pune

Expressway witnessed a number of landslides

and was closed for 24 hours.

The financial cost of flood was unprecedented and

it caused a stoppage of entire commercial,

trading, and industrial activity for days. The floods

caused a loss around Rs. 450 crores. The financial


Flood Snaps after 26/7Taken from Mumbai77.com

Flood Snaps after 26/7Taken from Mumbai77.com

impact of the floods was manifested

in a variety of ways. The state

government declared the 27th and

28th July as a public holiday. In

Mumbai, ATM of several banks like SBI,

ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank and

HSBC stopped functioning. ATM

operations outside Mumbai were also

severely hit due to connectivity failure

with their central systems located in

Mumbai. The Bombay Stock Exchange

and the National Stock Exchange of

India could function only partially. As

most of the trading is e-Trading, trading terminals of the brokerage houses across the country remained

largely inoperative.

Many experts claimed that an offshore vortex could be the possible underlying cause. But the QuikSCAT

satellite observed no offshore vortex. Later on it was realized to be a unique type of cloudburst. Here the

question arises “why was it that the Indian Meteorology department (IMD) could not predict this “event?”

As per IMD officials they lacked sophisticated Doppler radars which would have given 3 hour prior warning.

Without this equipment they could do is what we call time-now-casting. There is no forecasting. At the

most, it can be detected about an hour before. That is what they did on that day also. All this is happening

in a country where 60% people are dependent on agriculture and, hence, the rains for a living.

How is it that every year Mumbai ends up getting flooded? Mumbai had had a similar experience with

unrelenting rainfall in 1974, compared to which only Santacruz received a high amount of rainfall, which

reveals the fact that it was not as much the rains as the inundation caused by them which caused widespread

water-logging. Still there are many reasons, apart from the government’s droopiness. Following are a few

of these reasons:

Antiquated drainage system

The present storm-water drainage system

in Mumbai was put in place in the early

20th century and is capable of carrying

only 25 millimetres of water per hour

which was extremely inadequate on a day

when 944 mm of rain fell in the city. The

drainage system is also clogged at several

places. Only 3 ‘outfalls’ (ways out to the

sea) are equipped with floodgates

whereas the remaining 102 open directly



into the sea. As a result, there is no way to stop

the seawater from rushing into the drainage

system during high tide.

In 1990, an ambitious plan was drawn to overhaul

the city’s storm water drainage system which had

not been reviewed till now. A project costing

approximately 600 crore rupees was proposed

by UK based consultants hired by the BMC.

Implementation of the project would have

ensured that rainwater did not flood the streets

of Mumbai. The project was planned to have

completed by 2002 and aimed to enhance the

drainage system through larger diameter storm

water drains and pipes, using pumps wherever

necessary and removing encroachments. The

project, if implemented would have doubled the

storm water carrying capacity to 50 mm per hour.

The BMC committee had rejected the proposed

project on the grounds that it was “too costly”.

Uncontrolled development in Northern Suburbs

Unlike South Mumbai, development in northern

suburbs of Mumbai is haphazard and buildings

are constructed without proper planning. The

drainage plans in northern suburbs is chalked out

as and when required in a particular area and

not from an overall point of view.The Environment

Ministry of the Government of India was informed

in the early 1990s that sanctioning Bandra-Kurla

complex was leading to disaster. No environment

clearance is mandatory for large construction

projects in north Mumbai. Officials in environment

ministry claimed that it was not practical to impose

new guidelines with retrospective effect “as there

are millions of buildings”.

Destruction of mangrove ecosystems

Mangrove ecosystem which once existed along

the Mithi River and Mahim Creek is being

destroyed and replaced with construction.

Hundreds of acres of swamps in Mahim creek have

been reclaimed and put to use for construction

by builders. These ecosystems serve as a buffer

between land and sea. It is estimated that

Mumbai has lost about 40% of its mangroves

between 1995 and 2005, some to builders and

some to encroachment (slums). Sewage and

garbage dumps have also destroyed mangroves.

The Bandra-Kurla complex in particular was

created by replacing such swamps. The most

acclaimed Mindscape CBD (INORBIT MALL) in Malad

has been built by destructing the large patch of

Mangroves. Large slum colonies have encroached

upon the storm water drains and the

Mumbai is the city where highest tax revenue is

generated. But that seems to make no difference

to the plights of Mumbaikars. One wonders where

all the tax has gone. Looks like the Municipal

Corporation and the Government got dissolved

in rain. As always, the brave populace are saving

the city, not the state government and its million

and one “infrastructure projects”, not the central

government with its “Mumbai ko Shanghai banana

hai” plank.

In the light of all that happened on that day, some

would consider it insanely optimistic to even hope

for a silver lining in dark clouds, including the big

one that burst right over the airport- The Spirit of

Mumbai. The indomitable, undying, omnipresent

spirit of Mumbai, found everywhere-from the local

trains to the BEST buses to the homes of all those

living in Mumbai, and proudly carrying the tag of

“Mumbaikar” making the city equally proud of

them. Consider these accounts:

“We reached the main road where I saw the spirit

of Mumbai. And once again I was proud of being

a part of this city. The traffic was at a standstill.


Mumbai under inches of waterTaken from: www.webshots.com

There was complete chaos but the Mumbai cops

were not giving up. They still continued to direct

traffic.”

“There were more people walking on the road than

inside cars or buses. Mahim Causeway was

flooded. The water level was so high that we could

reach out and touch it. But the flood of people

walking eclipsed the floods. They were laughing,

singing, dancing and no one was complaining.”

“There were young men on the streets keeping

people away from potholes and gutters. They were

dripping wet but looking after strangers. A few men

directed us into the fishermen colony on the

Causeway. They told us it would be better than

the main road. So we followed the crowd.”

This is what makes Mumbai the commercial capital

of the country. Not the money, but the spirit of its

people Can one imagine this happening anywhere

else in the world? Nothing stops the Mumbai spirit.”

Employees walked for hours to reach home.

People distributed tea, biscuits and wada pavs

to the hungry people, obviously free of cost.

People gave shelter to strangers in their houses.

Which other city in the world can boast of such

citizens? The Mumbai tragedy was followed closely

by the New Orleans hurricane “Katrina”. And the

number of crimes horrific crimes of rape, dacoity

and murder committed in that city under siege was

appalling. Contrast this with the absence of any

such case in Mumbai.

And those who could have helped, helped in

tremendous ways. On 26/7, the radio, the city’s

pulse of entertainment, became the only source

of information and medium for people who were

stuck in their cars, or buses. Private FM stations

in Mumbai were on air for 48 hours non-stop

during the Mumbai floods last year, literally

becoming Mumbai’s communication lifeline. “We

were trying to get people not to panic. We told


Taken from: arvindkelkar.blogspot.com

Taken from: delhigreens.com

Taken from :www.tropmet.res.in

them, ‘Yes there is water, you’re stuck, it’s going to take a while for you to

reach home. With not a single song request on that day, all four private FM

stations operating in Mumbai provided information on traffic snarls, which

junctions should be avoided and assuming the role of morale boosters,

even if it meant bypassing the rule of not being allowed to transmit news.

“For people out there, the radio was the only source of information, we

bypassed the rule and transmitted news,” said an RJ with Radiocity. The

radio fans not only passed on news across the world to

near and dear ones, they also helped agencies like the

Bombay Municipal Corporation to pick up information

across the entire city. The common man’s communication

medium has emerged a hero every time Mumbai faces a

crisis.

There is no undermining to the unedifying spirit of

Mumbaikars, but there is only hope that this “lend a hand”

is not restricted only to calamities. What we need today

is continuous efforts from Mumbaikars to wake up the

government from its

deep slumber. We

should not need

another 26/7 to

provoke them. This

Mumbaikar should

not be lost in the

masses following

the same pre-

disaster life. Waking

up in the morning, catching up local train,

9-6 job and being exhausted going to

bed to get rejuvenated for the same

monotonous routine. Then who will have

the time to think of what the BMC or the

government should or should not be

doing.

Taken from: delhigreens.com

How much more must be written

and said before a lackadaisical

administration realizes that something

needs to be done? The same point, the same

findings, belabored in report after technical report,

and hardly any evidence of change. No city in the

world has a drainage system designed to handle

an unprecedented 944 mm of rainfall in a single

day - ‘an act of God’, as very rightly said by Vilasrao

Deshmukh. But is Mumbai equipped to deal with

even a regular day of rain? Aren’t the traffic jams,

the inundated roads, the choked drains but an

annual ritual in the life of the city? Mumbai has

been subjected to such distress almost every

other year, albeit a bit severe this time around,

and every time, unmistakably, similar chains of

events have followed. Every other time, a number

of innocent lives are devastated for no fault of

theirs. Wouldn’t Mumbai be a better place if such

incidents were never allowed to happen? Wouldn’t

we be more proud of that Mumbai?

In the days that followed the deluge,

newspapers, politicians and TV channels went

overboard in hailing the city’s spirit. ‘Bombay

bounces back’ was the cliché of the moment. And

Bombay did bounce back, what other option was

there for the people but to pick up the broken

pieces and get on with their lives? So inured have

we become to tragedy both personal and public

that any display of outrage, however legitimate,

simply evades us. We deserve to be angry, to be

downright irate. To demand what went wrong and

what is being done to right it. When what we need

is some strong medicine we’re offered in its place

a placebo: another committee of experts drafted


Courtesy: www.smh.com.au

they did suggest! Only that they hardly ever

became a reality. The fact that some committee

has been set up to look into a particular problem

is always a highly publicized affair, but the

outcome of these committee reports and studies

more often than not remains a mystery, even to

those directly concerned with implementation of

recommendations therein, leave alone the

masses. Let us have a look at the various

Committees, set up to look into the flooding

problem in Mumbai, and recommendations they

made based on fact finding committee report.

THE NATU COMMITTEE (1975)

The first such committee to be set up was the

Natu committee formed after the floods in 1974

in order to study the problems of the SWD sytems

in Mumbai and suggest improvements. Following

are the major recommendations of this committee:

Some Short Term Measures

1. Desilting of drains: The committee had laid

an emphasis on desilting of the drains in

Mumbai especially the ones in the areas

which had chronic water clogging problems.

Suggestion may seem simple yet till date it

has been one of the biggest reasons for

water clogging in Mumbai.

2. Encroachments: Removal of encroach-

ments on outfall and drainage channels.

3. Garbage collection: To amend the bye laws

compelling any property holder to construct

masonry receptacles for garbage

collectionin order to reduce the nuisance

of garbage being thrown in various

drainage channels.

to look into the matter. Literature on Mumbai’s

woeful drainage system abounds. The solutions

are glaringly obvious, what we lack is the will.

Given a choice between building a Bandra-Worli

Sea Link and spending the same money on

improving the city’s waste-water disposal system,

which political party in power would choose the

latter? In an uncertain political environment tough

decisions are hard to come by.

The latest in a series of high-profile committees

was constituted in August 2005, under the

chairmanship of M.A. Chitale, India’s first recipient

of the Stockholm Water Prize, the Nobel’s

equivalent in the field of water-related activities,

to look into the causes that resulted in the events

of 26th July. One of the reasons quoted in the

report is the lack of public discussion that most

reports preceding this one have generated. The

report says, “Valuable guidance contained in

these reports just got lost and failed to orient

the concerned population and the citizens at large

in the desired direction. It is hoped that this would

not be the fate of the report of this Fact Finding

Committee also.”

Ironic is the fact that despite there being an IIT

Bombay professor on the panel, our source of the

repot was BMC engineer oblivious to the explosive

nature of the as yet unpublished report’s

contents. We asked our professors several times,

but on each occasion the issue was artfully

avoided. The government obviously doesn’t wish

for the contents to become public, scathing being

the nature of criticism. So, yet another report in a

line of many finds its voice choked by red tape.

Invariably after every flooding incident various

committees have been formed to investigate this

problem and suggest measures. And measures


Some long term measures

1. As long term measured the committee

suggested redesigning of various drains,

provision of sluice gates and pumping

stations at various regions individually

considering their problems.

2. It recommended that all kutcha drains be

rebuilt into pucca ones and be provided

with a runoff of 1.5" at a rainfall intensity

of 40 mm/hr.

3. It was suggested that the bye passes of

sewage into storm water drains be

eliminated and and ‘Rational Method’ be

adopted in design of Storm Water Drains.

4. The committee proposed to provide

underground storm water drains for

important roads that carry considerable

discharge of storm water.

Although most of the short term measures

suggested in the Report were implemented but

provision of sluice gates and pumping stations at

various outfalls has still been overlooked. Had

these provisions been made, the 26/7 flood could

have been eased to a great extent.

CENTRAL WATER AND POWERRESEARCH STATION (CWPRS)-BKCREPORT -(1978)

Next in the series of reports was the CWPRS report

which dealt with the requirements of storm water

system of Bandra Kurla Complex. The alterations

in the course of Mithi river due to the construction

of BKC is largely blamed for the 26th July floods.

Some recommendations of this study were:

1. Provide a bed slope of 1:10000 from CST

bridge to Mahim causeway which is

supposedly done.

2. Increase the width of Mithi River at various

points along its course.

3. Installation of sluice gates at Mahim

Causeway. These gates are proposed to

be shut down during high tide thus

allowing the empty reservoir to collect the

flood water of rains and then discharge the

collected water during low tide. No action

had been taken on this issue despite an

exclusive committee ( Merwani Committee

– 1997 ) having been set up to look into

this matter and suggest follow up actions

and the report being signed by the

representatives of all concerned agencies

like Railways, MCGM, MMRDA, CWPRS etc.

4. Carry out three years maintenance

dredging cycle. This has also been said to

be carried out.

5. The cross drains draining into the Mithi River

should be provided with non return valves.

SHAH TECHNICAL CONSULTANTS

REPORT (1988) ON DHARAVI STORM

WATER DRAINAGE SYSTEM

Storm water from chronic flooding areas like Dadar,

Matunga, Kings Circle, Sion is carried to the outfall

in Dhravi and ultimately to Mahim Causeway. The

STC rport studied the problems of Dharavi

Catchment area and suggested the reasons for


flooding and the preventive measures. According

to the STC report, the major reasons for flooding

in the Dharavi catchment are as follows:

1. The insufficient capacity of drainage system

in the area to carry the storm run-off from

the aforementioned areas as also the

Dharavi area itself.

2. Most of the Dharavi area is reclaimed and

low lying, but hasn’t been provided with

drainage facilities accordingly.

3. The flood waters in Mahim creek reduce the

discharging capacity of the drainage system

and the Dharavi area becomes a closed

drainage system causing flooding,

Major recommendations of the report :

1. Raise the level of the area to such extent

so that gravity drainage is permitted or

instead pump out the storm water from the

area in which the drainage system

discharges.

2. Provide only trunk drains along existing

drains as per the catchment topography

and design rain intensity.

3. Divide the area into four zones A,B,C and D

with each area being handled separately.

Although many of the recommendations of this

report have been implemented, Dharavi region

has still not been relieved from flooding due to

topographical changes occurring in the region and

consequent irrelevancy of the report.

BRIMSTOWAD REPORT-(1993)

M/s Watson Hawksley International Ltd., U.K. and

M/s Associated Industrial Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

were jointly appointed by MCGM in 1990 to closely

look into the issues of SWD system of Mumbai.

The report has proved to be an important

landmark and to this date its implementation or

non-implementation continues to make headlines.

The scope of work of these consultancies was

as follows:

1. Survey the existing drains and study the

deficiencies in the old storm water drains.

2. Identify the difficulties in cleaning and

maintaining the old SWD’s.

3. Review the existing SWD system and

suggest revisions, if any, from the

perspective of increasing population and

prepare a master plan for augmentation

of the existing system according to the

revised norms.

The consultants suggested following 4 step plan

to improve existing system:

1. Level 0: No improvement in the system

2. Level 1: Maintaining the system and

preventing further deterioration.

3. Level 2: Fully utilizing the system by

removing all obstructions and augmenting

it for rainfall of twice a year storm i.e.

50mm/hr.


had recommended clearing of the encroachments

on these rivers and their exhaustive dredging.

These were the precise reasons which resulted

in extensive flooding of the Mithi river on 26th July.

Had these measures been taken, the misery

caused to the people due to this flooding could

have been substantially mitigated.

Milan Subway & Slater road Nana Chowk –(I.I.T. Bombay) (March 2005)

M.C.G.M. approached I.I.T. Bombay for a technical

opinion for remedial measures proposed to abate

flooding at

1. Milan Subway, (Santacruz) &

2. Nana Chowk and Slater Road, (Grant Road).

IIT Bombay’s Final recommendation for the Milan

Subway was for Diversion of flows from Milan

Subway through a new pipeline to Nehru Road

drop shaft of sewerage system by gravity flow.

IITB also recommended installation of flap gates

at Haji Ali and a Pumping Scheme to pump and

divert excess Storm Water from Sleater Road @

2.50 M3/s to the sewer (in 1st phase) and in the

2nd phase to the storm water mains Installation

of 2 state of art rain gauges in the catchment was

also recommended. The diversion work at Milan

subway has been partly done, but works for Slater

road have not yet been taken up.

In addition, there were recommendations from the

Paranjape Committee for expediting the Haji Ali

bays development with a gated barrage and for

the gated 79barrage across the mouth of the Mithi

river in 1988 and Shah Technical Consultants in

the year 1997- 98 for the Postal Colony SWD

diversion work.

4. Level 3: Augmenting the system for a rainfall

of once a year storm i.e. 58 mm/hr.

Implementation of first three cases was found

economically viable hence it was decided that the

SWD system would be augmented for a rainfall

intensity of twice a year storm. Accordingly various

new drains, diversion and pumping station were

proposed in the report, some of which have

already been implemented.

The consultants carried out a cost benefit study

and made various recommendations for the

improvement of SWD system in Mumbai, some

of which are listed below:

1. Regular desilting and maintenance of drains

using modern techniques.

2. Remove the obstructions of cables etc. in

the SWD system.

3. Remove the encroachment on the

components of SWD system.

4. Augment the present SWD system for a

rainfall of 50 mm/hr with appropriate

consideration being given to tidal effects.

This involved various issues like providing

diversions to shorten the length of flow,

providing pumping stations to pump out

water from low lying areas, widening and

deepening of open storm water channels

and augmenting the conveyance system.

The Brimstowad report also had a specific mention

of Mithi river and its tributary, the Vakola river,

clearly stating that these were the major water

bodies carrying storm water from the suburbs and


After the July 2005 deluge, many more committees and studies followed. These include Study on

Flood Mitigation Measures for Dahisar, Oshiwara and Poisar rivers conducted by Water and Power

Consultancy Services (India) Ltd., 1-D Mathematical Model and Desk Studies for Mitigating floods of

Mithi River in Mumbai by CWPRS, Development Action Plan for Environmental Improvement of Mithi

River by CESE, IIT Bombay. Each of these reports certain guidelines and recommendation in expectation

that they will be implemented in order to protect Mumbai from floods. Only time and the dedication of

our public servants would tell as to what extent these expectations would be fulfilled.

The Natu committee report came out at a time when Mumbai was still beginning to expand into the

mega city that it is today. Various smaller studies followed the Natu Committee and after thirteen

years came the Brimstowad Report. The recommendations of these reports were such that they

ensured an optimum functioning of the drainage system. Had they been followed from time to time,

the residents of Mumbai might have been saved of the distress that they had to and continue to

undergo. Not only that, these reports never even reached those who were directly responsible for

“This article is primarily based onfindings of FFC. Part of the contentof this article is taken directly fromthe FFC report Vol 1”

the implementation their recommendations. This wiped out any chances of

the ground level functionaries taking any sort of initiative in improving

the situation. Though the expanse of activities involved in

following these reports was huge, no formal monitoring

body was set up nor was any formal acceptance or

rejection of the recommendations therein

made. Right from the Natu Committee

to this date, despite

recommendations being

made in every other report,

obstructions in storm

water drains due to

collection of garbage,

encroachments on drains

continue to be the primary

concerns.

immersing Holy Idol in some water body after

Ganesh Chaturthi with great gusto and

vehemence without thinking of its ecological

consequences? Better than looking forward to

some committee for solution, we should put in

efforts to save our ecology to avoid ocurrence of

another 26/7. In this article we look at how we

can contribute towards the preservation of our

ecology.

Oppose LAND-ENCROACHMENT

Have you ever heard that somebody refused to

live in a building because the contractor was

dumping wastes in a nearby pond or it’s an illicitly

reclaimed land from some river? Like other social

responsibilities, to keep our city hale and hearty


BETTER than

ATHESIS done

Agreed that Government’s penny pinching

and neglect have left us woefully

unprepared to face a frequently flooded

future, but blaming everything to them is like

running away from our own responsibilities. Is

government really accountable for dumping of

garbage and industrial waste, construction of

buildings in flood plains and encroachment of river

area? We blame them for their inadequate

measures to deal with these problems, forgetting

the fact that we are the ones who actually create

these problems.

Do we really think even once before using plastic

bags or wasting paper, electricity and water? Do

we ever protest against tree cutting or land

encroachment? Who follow age old tradition of

MangroovesThey are unique ecosystems which help reducing the effect offlood. Despite replantation over half of the world’s mangroveshave been lost in recent times.

Taken from: borrowedearth.wordpress.com

it’s our duty to take these audacious steps. At all

it’s our city, how can we leave it at the disposition

of government, politicians and handful of NGOs?

Diminution of SOLID WASTE

No one would object that drains get clogged with

plastic bags and other solid waste thereby

exacerbating the flooding. Many of its elements

are non-biodegradable. The ubiquitous plastic bag

is an environmental menace. Every day tons of

waste gets generated from household or industry.

People should be educated about the optimal use

of existing resources. Waste of resources in any

way should be discouraged. For plastic also ban

is not a solution. We should phase out the use of

plastic replacing it with alternate resources like

clothes, wood and metal. An unfussy example of

it could be use of cloth bag instead of plastic bag.

Save MANGROVES save ecology

Mangroves are plants and shrubs that grow in

saline coastal habitats especially intertidal zone

(area of land which gets immersed only at the

time of high tides) in the tropics and subtropics.

Plants in mangroves are able to exploit their

habitat by developing physiological adaptations

to overcome the problem of frequent tidal

inundation, anoxia (complete disruption of Oxygen

supply) and high salinity. They protect the coast

from erosion, surge storms, especially during

hurricanes, and tsunamis. Their massive root

system is efficient at dissipating wave energy.

Areas where they occur include estuaries and

marine shorelines.

According to a 2005 study, the Mumbai and Thane

districts had the mangrove cover hosting about


Taken from: canebrakecollections.com

40 sq. km of the coastal eco-system each. But

due to anthropogenic causes like deterioration,

pollution, grazing, agriculture, aquaculture and

human encroachment etc., despite replanting

programs, over half these mangroves have been

lost in recent times.

Many laws were enacted to control this

destruction but all of them proved to be

insufficient. In 1991, when the Coastal Regulation

Zone rules came into existence, the mangroves

were declared as protected. In October 2005, the

Bombay High Court declared mangroves to be

‘forest’ and banned mangrove destruction in the

state as well as all construction activity within

50m of any mangrove area.

In spite of the court orders developers, land

grabbers and squatters does not hesitate in

slashing, burning and destroying these forests,

paying no heed to these rules. In Borivli and

Goregaon large swathes of mangroves were

destroyed to clear the way for a construction

activity nearby. Mangroves in Mahim creek,

Versova creek, Malad creek, Vikhroli also met the

similar fates. Despite repeated warnings from

environmentalists and outcries from NGOs, the

destruction of mangrove covers went on

Under the HC order, areas of 60 sq. km were

identified as under mangrove cover in Mumbai,

Thane, Navi Mumbai stretching upto Raigad. But

the reality, as always, came out to be something

entirely different. Although this order was

completely unambiguous, various local bodies

including the BMC, the NMMC, the CIDCO and

other local agencies reverted to the state

government with “suggestions and objections”

to whether these areas should be declared as

protected. In the final notification issued by the

state government in January 2007 only 20 sq km

were declared as “protected forests”. “A huge

area of 40 sq km of mangrove forests was

removed from protection and presumably relieved

for development by various authorities,” alleges

the BEAG (Bombay Environmental Action Group).

Considering all that has been done and all that

has not been done, the fact remains that lot of

ecosystems and natural drainages have been

polluted, hacked away and destroyed in Mumbai

in recent years. It’s the time the administration

and the people recognize the crucial role of flood

buffer played by these natural systems in a

metropolitan like Mumbai; a city which is home to

millions, built on reclaimed land and is prone to

heavy rains and frequent flooding. Or are we

waiting for another disaster before we come to

our senses?


Yellow Issue-1 Vol-2

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