Page 175 - CW E-Magazine (28-1-2025)

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Overhead Storage for There is a large river, Barvi, meet-
Flushing ing the sea at Vasai. The main source
of water in this river is the catchment
area after the dam at Ambernath and
tail water from Tata dam using it for
power generation. If this river is partially
blocked at a point between Diva and
Rainwater
Mumbra, it would result in a sweet
water storage that could provide water to
the population from Kalyan to Mumbra,
which is presently taking away a
big part of water supply to Mumbai.
Electrical Supply The height of this dam should be just
about the highest tide level in the Arabian
Power Supply sea to prevent mixing of sea water in
LC the sweet water. Water purifi cation
Storage and distribution can be situated on the
Tank Mumbra hills. This would obviate the
Submersible Pump LC need for pumps for distribution. Water

can be distributed right up to Panvel

Mumbai can be drastically reduced. Very
First Landing and pressure on the water supply on
serious effort will, however, be needed
to restrict the fl ow of domestic and
industrial waste in these primary
streams. This can serve as a long-term
solution to the needs of the growing
population in the suburbs of Mumbai,
which have grown industrially as well as
residentially. There may be plans to ope-
Another possibility is to collect all of electricity required for pumping the rate waterways in these streams. This can
the rainwater from the top fl oor at one water. be incorporated in the plan of construc-
point by providing adequate slope to tion of the check dams. Arrangements
the top slab (typically 1/100 slope) at When I hear of the possibilities of like Panama Canals can be incorporated
the time of construction. The lowest desalination of seawater for supply to to allow the boats to move from sweet
point should be at the center of the Mumbai city, I wonder why simpler water to salty water and vice versa.
staircase. A pipe should transfer entire options cannot be explored.
water to a small 400-500 l plastic tank Alternatively, several small dams
kept on the last fl ight of the staircase, Two other possibilities can be constructed all along the Parsik
about 2-2.5 meters below the ceiling. There are other possibilities of rain- Hills and Matheran Hills to provide
This tank should be provided with two water harvesting around Mumbai. Two water for at least 6-7 months to the
level controls and a submersible pump. of them are discussed below: population living close to these areas.
The water collected in the tank should There are only a limited number of
be pumped to the tank through a sand Blocking a large number of water- dams in this part. These were con-
fi lter, supplying water for toilet fl ush- falls all along the Parsik Hills of structed for irrigation purposes but
ing, which should be constructed sepa- Mumbra, from Kalva to Panvel, where have not served the purpose due to
rately at the time of building construc- huge amounts of rainwater is simply change of land use from agri to non-
tion. Lines can also be provided for car drained to the sea, and the large rivers agri. The location of dams would have
and fl oor washing at different levels fl owing east and west of Mumbai which to be about 50-60 meters above sea
from this tank. In this way, the residents can be partially blocked to create fresh- level so that after fi ltration water can
would be able to save considerable cost water lakes enough for the city. be distributed by gravity. V.C. Malshe

Chemical Weekly January 28, 2025 175

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