BMC moots ambitious plan to prevent floating waste from entering Mumbai’s waterbodies
The overall cost of this project is pegged at Rs 22 crore at an average cost of Rs 3.6 crore per river or nullah.
4 min read
For the project, BMC shortlisted six major water bodies in the western suburbs. (File Photo)Taking cue from the recent water-logging incidents in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to install trash barriers in three rivers and three storm water drain outfalls to prevent the entry of plastic items into the water bodies. The proposal comes at an overall cost of Rs 22 crore at an average cost of Rs 3.6 crore per river or nullah.
These trash barriers are also known as floating barriers or trash booms that act as guardrails that prevent floating waste from entering the water bodies and keep them isolated so that they could be easily identified and removed. These barriers are anchored to a stationary structure, and the floating waste flowing into the water gets caught in these barriers. Later, the accumulated waste items are collected by the civic authorities and disposed of. The purpose of installing these barriers is to prevent floating waste materials creating any hindrance in the water flow, which eventually leads to overflow of drains and canals during the monsoon, resulting in waterlogging.
Between August 16 and 19, after Mumbai recorded heavy rainfall up to 940 mm within four days leading to waterlogging in several pockets of the city, civic authorities attributed the presence of floating waste in the drains to have caused choking of the drainage network in Mumbai leading to flash flooding.
For the project, BMC shortlisted six major water bodies – Dahisar River, Posar River, Oshiwara River, Mogra Nullah (Andheri), Gazderbandh Nullah (Juhu) and NL Road Nullah (Dahisar). These water bodies are in the western suburbs and all of them fall into the Arabian Sea through multiple storm water drain (SWD) outfalls. The overall cost of this project is pegged at Rs 22 crore at an average cost of Rs 3.6 crore per river or nullah.
Furthermore, the BMC’s data shows that in total these trash barriers will be spread across a length of 570.5 meters across these six water bodies and the average cost for installing these barriers in every meter stands at Rs 39,614 crore. Of the six water bodies, the Dahisar and Oshiwara river will get the longest stretch of barriers of 123.5 meters each, followed by 103 meters at Poisar River, 88 meters at Mogra and Gazdabandh nullah each and 44 meters at NL Road Nullah.
“Before monsoon next year, we intend to install 17 more of such barriers in multiple locations in the western suburbs; so that we will have floating barriers installed at as many as 23 locations in the western suburbs of Mumbai before monsoon hits in 2026,” a civic official told the Indian Express. Prior to this, floating barriers were installed in eight different locations in Mumbai, all of which are operational at present. The first barrier was installed at Colaba in south Mumbai.
“The eight barriers that were installed as a pilot project have shown impressive results. During the monsoon, around 3 metric tons (MT) of solid waste were collected by our officers from the points where these barriers are installed. Had these materials not been there then the intensity of flooding would have been much more. We have carried out a feasibility study and chalked out areas where there is a requirement of installing these barriers,” the official said.
Civic officials said that besides these, the civic authorities are also installing nets at SWD outfalls to prevent floating waste from entering the water bodies.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2022 ordered the BMC to find remedial measures to prevent floating waste from entering the water bodies, following which the civic authorities chalked out measures for installing these barriers on the water bodies in Mumbai.
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