City: Mumbai

“Does Mumbai feel the need to conserve water?” asked Sanjay Ubale, executive board member of Mumbai First at a conclave about water in Mumbai. With easy availability of water from seven reservoirs, the city has the best per capita water ratio in India, and so, there is less incentive to conserve water or practise rainwater harvesting, he explained. Why would societies spend funds to store water for future use when they are getting water at highly subsidised rates round the year, he asked. Statistics too suggest the same.  Approximately only 3000 societies of the total estimated 20,000 societies in Mumbai…

“I have got a lung infection because of the dust. Even at home I try to keep my windows shut. A lot of redevelopment is happening near my home as well as office,” says Rohini Vij, an HR professional at a fast food chain. Her workplace in Prabhadevi is undergoing renovation and refurbishment work, and what makes working even more difficult is the redevelopment of buildings around. She says the noise and dust are affecting their productivity. It does not help that it is the same situation in the area where she lives in Bandra. Rohini is among the many…

Throughout the year, vegetable shops and markets are stocked with select vegetables and produce that form our diets. This produce is grown in large scale farms and sold across the country despite geographic and seasonal variations. But 23rd June was an aberration for some of us, who spent time at the Hirvya Devachi Yatra. We got in touch with forest foods that grow in the wild, people who harvest them and make delicacies out of these.  The Hirvya Devachi Yatra was organised this year by the Shramik Mukti Sanghatana, Van Niketan, Ashwamedh Pratisthan and INTACH Thane Chapter. It has been…

Umbrella? Check. Raincoat for the kids? Check. All-season footwear? Check. Plastic cover for mobile phone? Check. As June approaches, Mumbaikars ready themselves for monsoon or what is popularly called "Bambai ki baarish." They buy protective gear and extra food supplies. Some like me even pack away ‘the summer wardrobe’ and bring out ‘the monsoon wardrobe’. While we are careful about preparing for the monsoon, are our neighbourhoods equally ready? What should be on our safety checklist as we go about our lives for the next four months? In this two-part series Citizen Matters explores the factors that cause flooding, various…

“It used to flood a couple of years ago. Water would get into the bank on the ground floor of my building. But now there is a pump to clear out the water. So it doesn’t flood, unless there is a lot of rainfall,” says Shubhalaxmi Burde, a resident of Sleater Road in Grant Road. But she remembers a time, when she moved as a new bride in 1978, she discovered that people in the area had to use small boats to get around because of the flooding. Nana Chowk  at Grant Road and the area around it, has been a…

Through the month of June, we had a sort of extended celebration of World Environment Day (June 5th) by highlighting organisations and collectives that are actively trying to make a change. In case you missed their stories on our social media channels, here's another hat tip to these changemakers, who are fighting to protect natural spaces and ensuring environmental justice in our increasingly chaotic, expanding cities. Nizhal, Chennai We start off in Chennai with Nizhal. Nizhal, which means shade in Tamil, is a non-profit organisation that promotes urban greening with a focus on indigenous tree species and biodiversity regeneration. The…

Mumbai may have witnessed heavy rains but one must not forget that the city is still reeling under a 10% water cut since June 5, 2024. On the one hand water levels in the reservoirs are depleting, and on the other hand rainwater continues to flow out. In such a scenario, rainwater harvesting can be the game changer for Mumbai. If done right, it ensures water supply for individuals, fights larger water crisis and might help reduce floods too.    Urban local bodies (ULB) like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been encouraging housing societies to set up rainwater harvesting…

As the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts an “above normal" monsoon for Mumbai, the marginalised residing in informal housing along the coastlines start anticipating and preparing for heavy rains. Citizen Matters visited the slums of Ganesh Nagar located on the rocks of Bandstand, Bandra to explore how the marginalised communities residing close to the sea, face the challenge of rising sea levels, heavy floods during the monsoons, worsened by climate change. Proximity to the high tidal waves — some of them have waves lashing right into their doors during the high tides — impacts their daily living. For the residents…

Most of us in Mumbai, eat mangoes daily during summer. In my society at Goregaon East, some of the residents and I decided to collect mango seeds from our neighbours. We gave them to Mission Green Mumbai, an NGO Mumbai, which takes care of planting the seeds for a greener society.  When I first saw the video on saving mango seeds posted by the NGO, almost a year ago, I thought it was a wonderful idea. It has been a year since we started working on this, and so far we have managed to collect around 2500 seeds.  How did we…

Across India, people have been suffering from extremely high temperatures, with some places experiencing multiple heat waves. The heat stress has been so acute that it has led to several deaths. During such extreme weather events, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues alerts. Advisories are also given out, asking people not to step out during the hottest part of the afternoon. But for many, staying indoors is not an option and as in any calamity, the worst affected are those that have the least protection — many of whom work in the informal sector. Others face equally harsh conditions indoors,…