The Mithi River (Pronunciation: iʈʰiː is a river on

Salsette Island Salsette Island (, , Sashti) is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra, along India's west coast. Administratively known as the Mumbai Suburban district, Mira Bhayander and a portion of Thana (Thane) lie on it; making it ...

, the island of the city of

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, India. It is a confluence of tail-water discharges of the Powai and Vihar lakes. The river is seasonal and rises during the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

s. The overflowing lakes also contribute to the river flow, which is stopped by a dam at other times..

Geography

The river originates from the overflow of

Vihar Lake Vihar Lake (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �iɦaːɾ is located near Vihar village on the Mithi River within the precincts of the Borivali National Park, also called the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in North Mumbai. When built in 1860 (co ...

and also receives the overflows from the

Powai Lake Powai Lake (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əʋəiː is an artificial lake, situated in Mumbai, in the Powai valley, where a Powai village with a cluster of huts existed. The city suburb called Powai shares its name with the lake. Indian ...

about 2 km later. It flows for a total of 18 km before it meets the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

at Mahim Creek flowing through residential and industrial complexes of Powai, Saki Naka,

Kurla Kurla (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uɾlaː is a suburb of East Mumbai, India. It is the headquarters of the Kurla taluka of Mumbai Suburban district. The neighbourhood is named after the eponymous Bombay East Indians, East Indian vill ...

Kalina Kalina may refer to: People * Kalina people The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an Indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in ...

, Vakola,

Bandra Kurla Complex The Bandra Kurla Complex is the central business district of the city of Mumbai, the financial capital of India. It is a prominent upscale hub and is considered to be one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the world. According t ...

Dharavi Dharavi is a residential area in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It has often been considered one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is o ...

and

Mahim Mahim (, ) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway zone, Western Railway and Harbour line (Mumbai Suburban Railway), Harbour Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway, Mumbai Suburb ...

. The river has an average width of 5 metres in the upper reaches, has been widened to 25 m in the middle reaches and up to 70 m in the lower reaches after 26 July 2005 deluge (944 mm in 24 h on 26 July 2005).

Environmental degradation

The river has been polluted by dumping of raw

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...

industrial waste Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and ...

and

municipal waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, a ...

into the river. Besides this, illegal activities like washing vessels, animals and oily drums, discharge of unauthorised

hazardous waste Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is Toxicity, toxic, Chemical reaction, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is Corrosion, corrosive, ...

are also carried out along the course of this river. Cattle sheds in some areas contribute animal waste. Barrel cleaners, scrap dealers and others dump sludge oil, effluent and garbage in the river. The organic waste, sludge and garbage dumping has reduced the

carrying capacity The carrying capacity of an ecosystem is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as the ...

of the river. The water with mixture of sewage and industrial waste is a threat to marine life. The river bed is full of sludge, garbage and vegetation growth like

water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive species, invasive outside its native rang ...

in many parts.

Cleanup

The

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), or the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. Salman Khan Is Now Brand Ambassador of BMC from 2016. The BMC is India ...

has undertaken a cleanliness drive lately so that the

floods A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

of 26 July 2005 are not repeated. An environmental group has been formed by Rajendra Singh, an award-winning conservationist in 2009. The BMC has been able to remove just 267,000 cubic metres so far, or 60% of what is required.

Development

Many young entrepreneurs in and around Mumbai are now aggressively involved with raising awareness of the degradation of the Mithi River, and creating awareness on a global scale as the government of India has again began to ignore this extremely important issue. In 2009, environmentalist and Magsaysay Award winner, Rajendra Singh lead a ''yatra'', of a group of environmentalist and NGOs, through

city along the degraded Mithi river to highlight its problems. A Contemporary Art show was also held in 2009 to increase awareness of the dire situation of the Mithi River in Bombay by Chintan Upadhyay titled Khatti – Mithi.

References

External links

''Five Disasters Waiting to Happen''
a film that chronicles the Mithi river's ecological issues.
Mithi river water pollution and recommendations for its control
by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board
'Making the Sewer...a River Again – Why Mumbai must reclaim its Mithi.' A film by Riddhi J Chokhawala, Gautam Kirtane and Dhaval Desai, Research Fellows, Observer Research Foundation Mumbai

Kadinsky, Sergey "Mithi River, Mumbai" ''Hidden Waters Blog'' 1 February 2016
{{Authority control Rivers of Mumbai