The administration in Mumbai, Chennai and other major cities is ignoring the basic issues that are leading to flooding of the cities. The civic officials are too busy to divert attention rather than highlighting the efforts to prevent flooding.
1) Use of plastic bags - On an average every citizen shops twice a week which means every citizen contributes 8 plastic bags to the city waste every month. So 22 million population of Mumbai adds at least 176 million plastic bags every month! Apart from plastic carry bags there are other types of plastic that gets thrown around the streets by people for example plastic packet of wafers, chocolates, biscuits etc. So my estimate is Mumbai is contributing close to 250 million plastic bags/packets every month. People do not realize that 250 million bags are being added every month - they are accumulating and the soil is loosing the ability to absorb water. So there is no time left but to act right now or we will have worse flooding next year that will kill hundreds of people.
Solution options - There should be absolute ban on plastic bags and anyone carrying a plastic bag should be fined on spot. Unfortunately there is no other option but to be harsh and strict to ensure no more bags are getting added to existing problem that we have.
2) Not Recycling plastic bags - Are we recycling 250 million plastic bags every month? To add to the problem Mumbai city does not have space to dispose the garbage. Civic administration digs pits and dump garbage in the pit for most of the garbage except for the few modern garbage disposal plants, that do not have capacity to handle the entire garbage produced by the city. So most of the plastic bags are not recycled and end up in drainage systems that clog the drainage pipelines.
Solution options - We need private companies to help setup garbage treatment plants particularly to treat plastic and non biodegradable garbage. Government should also setup 'Plastic collection points where citizen should be encouraged to deposit their plastic bags and plastic items so that they are recycled and do not end up blocking our drains and blocking oil from absorbing water.
3) Concretization & Tar-ification of soil - Modern Smart Cities have reduced the soil cover. If you compare the satellite picture of Mumbai over 5 years we will see that the soil that used to absorb rain water has now been covered by cement an tar. What this means is the rain water is not getting absorbed by the soil and the only way for the water to escape is by drainage system which were not designed to carry huge volume of water.
Solution options - The builders and residents should realize that thy have to play an important role in maintaining the environment. If we cover the entire building premise with cement and roads with tar then we are blocking the rain water from seeping in and inviting floods. Do not use concrete to cover land inside your buildings and parking lots.
1) Use of plastic bags - On an average every citizen shops twice a week which means every citizen contributes 8 plastic bags to the city waste every month. So 22 million population of Mumbai adds at least 176 million plastic bags every month! Apart from plastic carry bags there are other types of plastic that gets thrown around the streets by people for example plastic packet of wafers, chocolates, biscuits etc. So my estimate is Mumbai is contributing close to 250 million plastic bags/packets every month. People do not realize that 250 million bags are being added every month - they are accumulating and the soil is loosing the ability to absorb water. So there is no time left but to act right now or we will have worse flooding next year that will kill hundreds of people.
Solution options - There should be absolute ban on plastic bags and anyone carrying a plastic bag should be fined on spot. Unfortunately there is no other option but to be harsh and strict to ensure no more bags are getting added to existing problem that we have.
2) Not Recycling plastic bags - Are we recycling 250 million plastic bags every month? To add to the problem Mumbai city does not have space to dispose the garbage. Civic administration digs pits and dump garbage in the pit for most of the garbage except for the few modern garbage disposal plants, that do not have capacity to handle the entire garbage produced by the city. So most of the plastic bags are not recycled and end up in drainage systems that clog the drainage pipelines.
Solution options - We need private companies to help setup garbage treatment plants particularly to treat plastic and non biodegradable garbage. Government should also setup 'Plastic collection points where citizen should be encouraged to deposit their plastic bags and plastic items so that they are recycled and do not end up blocking our drains and blocking oil from absorbing water.
3) Concretization & Tar-ification of soil - Modern Smart Cities have reduced the soil cover. If you compare the satellite picture of Mumbai over 5 years we will see that the soil that used to absorb rain water has now been covered by cement an tar. What this means is the rain water is not getting absorbed by the soil and the only way for the water to escape is by drainage system which were not designed to carry huge volume of water.
Solution options - The builders and residents should realize that thy have to play an important role in maintaining the environment. If we cover the entire building premise with cement and roads with tar then we are blocking the rain water from seeping in and inviting floods. Do not use concrete to cover land inside your buildings and parking lots.
No comments:
Post a Comment