Mumbai: The Bombay High Court’s recent observation, that Mumbai’s recurring waterlogging is “our own creation” because citizens encroach on public land, block gutters and convert footpaths into shops and parking, lands with uncomfortable force. It echoes an older truth; the city’s stormwater drainage system was never built for the Mumbai we inhabit today and the habits the court laments have deep roots in how we have shaped this reclaimed archipelago.
Mumbai began as seven islands joined by reclamation that left large parts of the city below high-tide levels. Its drainage began with open nullahs and evolved under British engineers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries into a primarily gravity-based network of underground drains discharging through outfalls. Pumping stations were added over time, particularly to assist low-lying areas during high tide. Designed for rainfall intensities around 25 mm per hour and a far smaller city, the system’s core still serves Mumbai today. It was adequate for the Bombay of that era, but it was never intended for the density, impervious surfaces and extreme downpours of the 21st century.
Post-independence, the city grew faster than the drains could be upgraded. Studies after the 1974 and 1985 floods flagged siltation, encroachments and maintenance failures. The 1993 BRIMSTOWAD report recommended lifting capacity to 50 mm per hour, however, implementation was piecemeal. The July 26, 2005 deluge, 944 mm in a day, exposed the system’s limits. The revived BRIMSTOWAD project promised systematic upgrades. Two decades on, many pumping stations stand completed, yet the network’s effective capacity still hovers around 55 mm per hour in upgraded stretches.
The high court’s indictment of civic habits is therefore only half the story. Encroachments are real and so is indiscriminate dumping into drains. Footpaths continue to disappear beneath parking, commercial spillover and informal occupation. Responsibility does not belong to any one section of society. Businesses, residents, motorists, hawkers and institutions have all, at various points, treated public infrastructure as negotiable. We invoke planning regulations when they protect our interests and overlook them when they inconvenience us.
Public infrastructure, however, rarely distinguishes between individual violations. A blocked drain does not ask who blocked it. There are encouraging signs that the city is finally attempting to address the problem at a larger scale. This week, the state government submitted a Rs13,000-crore integrated flood mitigation proposal to the Centre, targeting nearly 370 flood-prone locations with the ambition of clearing floodwater within 30 minutes, even during high tide. The proposal also commits to completing the remaining BRIMSTOWAD works within two years.
History, however, also teaches caution. Mumbai has rarely lacked plans rather it has struggled with sustained execution. BRIMSTOWAD itself became synonymous with delayed implementation despite broad agreement on its necessity. Success this time will depend less on announcements than on consistent delivery, transparent monitoring and the long-term protection of the infrastructure being upgraded.
Equally important is recognising that engineering alone cannot solve what has become a behavioural problem. Drains cannot function if they are treated as dumping grounds. Footpaths cannot serve pedestrians if they become parking lots. Stormwater channels cannot carry water if they are steadily narrowed by encroachment. Infrastructure can only perform as well as the public realm allows it to.
Only then will Mumbai begin to break the cycle of reliving the same flood every monsoon, while expecting a different outcome.
Ankieta Kothari is the founder of The Bombay Blueprint, a public platform chronicling Mumbai’s architecture, heritage and evolving urban landscape
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