It is monsoon time and Delhi has flooded again. A couple of days before, Mumbai under deluge with horrific images of some of the areas of t...
It is monsoon time and Delhi has flooded again. A couple of days before, Mumbai under deluge with horrific images of some of the areas of the city underwater.
During monsoon, rivers tend to swell in their flood plains. Lakes and wetlands retain excess surface runoff, while forested lands help in soil retention and groundwater recharge.
Such key components in a natural system help to dampen the impacts of floods, but often the functioning of a city interferes with this natural system. But over the years, we have seen unprecedented downpours between just one or two days which are essentially a climate change phenomenon.
The land use and land cover changes caused due to urbanisation occur at the cost of building on open spaces, green areas, and water bodies. The process of converting the crucial blue and green spaces into impervious layers impedes the natural flow of streams, connected lakes and groundwater recharge.
Development projects such as metro construction in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore are taking place at the expense of cutting trees. Plans for reclaiming land along Mumbai’s coastline for the construction of a coastal road could potentially hamper the retention of seawater during high tides.
Over the years with the growth of the city, several lakes...
