SHOCKING! In Mumbai 2100 million litres of human waste is dumped in Arabian Sea every day

Mumbai is pumping untreated sewage into the Arabian Sea and these staggering numbers about the city's waste management are a concern for health hazard.

Thanks to all the sewage being generated, Mumbai’s coastline is now considered to be the most polluted in the world. According to a TOI report, what is even more shocking is the fact that around 2,100 million litres a day (MLD) of waste water sewage is released into the Arabian Sea. The reason behind this massive accumulation of human waste is that it receives only a basic preliminary treatment before it is discharged into the sea and other creeks and water bodies nearby.

Civil engineers have gone on to record to confirm that around 25% of the city’s waste comes directly from the slums and is infused straight into nallahs and creeks and thereby entering the Arabian Sea. With mounting issues of waste management in the city, these startling numbers have been an eye-opener. The sewage has reduced the levels of dissolved oxygen in the sea water, which poses a huge threat to marine life. The BMC had earlier announced that they would be spending Rs 10,000 crore to set up seven new plants at the same locations where the existing ones stand.

According to The Times Of India the BMC’s sewage operation department in an internal note stated that:

“The Malad creek does not have the required assimilative capacity due to nominal tidal flushing. The dissolved oxygen (DO) level in the Malad creek has reached zero, raising serious environmental concerns,”

With the growing concern regarding piling human waste, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed 13 new waste segregation centres and five new waste processing centres in the city. The new allocation has been made under the Development Plan (DP) budget 2017-18, which has allocated Rs3.80 crore for the segregation centres and Rs2.85 crore for the processing centres, respectively. Additionally, BMC has also allocated Rs20.51 crore for creating new gardens in the city and Rs26 crore for at least 18 new schools.

The idea of segregation centres is to separate dry waste from the rest of the pile of garbage and recycle it instead of it reaching the dumping ground, thus creating a version of processed waste.

Malad is the main center for sewage treatment with the waste of 35 lakh people being handled at its plant. Thoughthere is preliminary treatment done at the Malad plant, the sewage is directly discharged in Malad creek. This has become a cause of concern for environmentalits since the dissolved oxygen (DO) level has gone to zero. The waste water sewage treatment plant at Bandra Reclamation is no different.

Tourism is another sector which suffers along with the general health of those living near the coastline being under a constant threat. The mounting waste at Deonar and Mulund dumping grounds and the piling amount of plastic debris on Mumbai’s beache have also become a health-hazard for citizens living in the adjoining areas.

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