MUMBAI LAND RECLAMATION & ITS EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT

By : Ankush Rai Roll No. 729

The original seven islands of Mumbai

Map of Mumbai in 2009

 The seven islands of Bombay were connected to form the area of the modern city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in India. The original archipelago was composed of the following islands: Isle of Bombay Colaba Old Woman's Island (Little Colaba) Mahim Mazagaon Parel Worli The nearby islands of Trombay and Salsette were merged to form Greater Bombay.

 The remaining islands are: Gharapuri Island/Elephanta Island Butcher Island Middle Ground Coastal Battery Oyster Rock East Ground In the 1970s, the Supreme Court instituted a series of injunctions protecting the shoreline and access to it for fishermen. These injunctions, along with the creation of Coastal Regulatory Zones in the 1990s and growing environmental concerns, have significantly decreased the number and scale of land reclamation projects pursued in Mumbai

 Mumbai has had its fair share of land reclamation from the sea in the form of Backbay Reclamation, Umarkhardi and Dockyard. In November, this year, the MTSU revived its idea to reclaim large-scale land from the Arabian Sea including expansion of the financial district at Nariman Point. Post-independence Mumbai witnessed reclamations being tripled, and as a result, large parts of the city were built on reclaimed land. There is an alarming transition of natural land to a built-up area for urban use. As a result, more than 50 per cent of Mumbais beaches, fresh lakes, creeks, inter-tidal zones and mangroves got affected.

Effects of land reclamation on environment

Reclamations cause collateral damage to the ecology of coast, morphology, marine life, ground water and the dependent local communities. This is worsened by unscientific and haphazard measures adopted for reclaiming land, which in turn make flooding a regular feature as the creeks that act as a natural drainage vanish.

Effects of land reclamation on environment(Contd..)

Reclamation is inherently problematic as it involves dredging the seabed, thereby increasing water pollution by stirring up heavy metals, pesticide residue and other toxins that have been absorbed into the soil. The reclamation process also causes acute depletion of vegetation, transformation of soil cover to concretised landscape that reduces permeability and increases run-off, all of which have been one of the primary cause for the flooding in Mumbai during monsoons.