The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Friday launched the pilot project of Mithi River clean comprising funds of Rs five crore through Aaditya Thackeray, Minister, Environment & Climate Change and Guardian Minister, Mumbai Suburbs.
As part of the project a customised floating matter collection machine manufactured by Finland has been installed on the bank of this River at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) near MMRDA's office. This equipment consisting of Boom, Concentrator and Recovery Unit were designed and made at Helsinki, Finland by RiverRecycle and were dispatched in the month of October 2020, reached India on January 4, 2021.
Thackeray said, "Mithi is different than other rivers and lakes in the city. And in 2005 after floods we realised the importance of Mithi River. With this pilot project we aim to transform Mithi river which is now a nullah. We will also replicate same clean up project in other rivers."
The MMRDA had signed an MoU with the Marine Debris Partnership in September 2020 for the Mithi River Clean-Up Project. Marine Debris Partnership is between the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs (UNTIL), the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, RiverRecycle Oy of Finland and Earth5R Environmental Services Private Limited, Mumbai, India. It is the facilitator for the project and suppose to review the performance and the outcomes of the project from time to time.
The main objective of the project is to collect floating matter and recycle it.
SVR Srinivas told, "The waste collected from river will be segregated near the spot by the slum dwellers living near the river vicinity. Over 5000 people will get jobs like this. The waste collected will be recycled."
The installed machine is completely operational using Solar Power with backup of battery charged by solar energy and also attempt is being made to remain energy neutral. To ensure efficiency, the operations will be carried out in three shifts and the conveyor belts have infinite capacity to collect the floating wastes. Initial estimates indicate a daily collection of 5 tons of floating waste from single point which is the concentrated point of collection will be made. Interestngly, there is a target to gradually augment the collection capacity to 50 tons per day.
Apart from this, MMRDA and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) are in advanced discussions to have Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) at appropriate locations to treat the effluents and increase the Dissolved Oxygen in river and reduce BOD & COD levels.
