What happened to Mumbai’s Mithi River?

Watch how a solo traveler captured the state of Mumbai’s Mithi River.

Transcript

00:00I'll show you the beautiful river. Well, I mean, you can't really tell there's water under there.

00:08Somewhere under all that rubbish is water. Water that will probably kill you with one sip.

00:15Solo traveler Nolan Samuray showed a water body completely blanketed in garbage,

00:20so much so the water was barely visible. He filmed this in Mumbai's Tharavi through which

00:25the Mithi River flows. The Mithi River spans 17 to 18 kilometers flowing from the Vihar and Pawai

00:31lakes through Sakhinaka, Kurla, Dharavi and Mahim before emptying into the Arabian Sea.

00:37The mangrove forests that once thrived along this river and served as natural flood defense

00:41have largely been destroyed due to encroachments and illegal construction.

00:45This degradation has significantly weakened the city's flood defenses, increasing vulnerability

00:50to water logging during heavy monsoons. The 2005 Mumbai floods, which claimed over

00:551,000 lives, were worsened by the river's clogged channels that fail to drain excess rainwater.

01:00Beyond environmental damage, the polluted river also poses serious health risks to nearby communities.

01:06Thousands of people living in informal settlements along its banks are directly exposed to its toxic

01:11waters. Research by IIT Bombay has found high levels of E. coli bacteria and faecal coliform bacteria

01:17in the river indicating contamination from human waste. While authorities have started clean-up efforts,

01:23citizens and activists are also doing their bit, trying to make the Mithi River actually beautiful again.