Articles by Sahil Kanekar/WRI India

On his 17 km walk along the Mithi, Abhijit Waghre observed the river’s water level, its flood protection infrastructure, and associated limitations in basic sanitation services. Read more: Walking along the 17-km long Mithi river: A look at the riverine ecosystem Most of Mumbai's stormwater systems depend on the Mithi river for drainage to the sea. However, systemic challenges abound, with settlements abutting the river, limiting the effectiveness of this approach during the problematic monsoon months. When high tides and heavy rainfall coincide, the city's stormwater flow to the river gets backed up resulting in Mumbai’s annual flooding woes. Household…

Mumbai’s perennial struggle with routine waterlogging and catastrophic floods is the result of several limitations in the city’s storm water drainage system. This includes its reliance on its riverine ecosystems of which the Mithi River is a key component. The Mithi is an urban river whose course has been trained and altered over the years, for almost its entire 17 km stretch. Channelizing the Mithi river for effective flood-risk mitigation has altered its capacity in several places, the impact of which is borne by those who live and work on the riverfront. Satellite images tracing the altered course of the…