Tackling Mumbai monsoon menace; BMC to install sensor-based flood gauges across the city

In an attempt to monitor the problem of waterlogging during monsoon in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning on installing flood gauges equipped with sensors across the city. As per the officials, the project will be taken forward in a phased manner. In Phase-1, sensor-based flood gauges will be installed at 100 selected locations across the city.

Likely to begin this monsoon, this initiative will help the municipal body in making more informed plans to tackle flood like situations effectively. As per official data, there are 386 flooding spots in Mumbai however, there is no mechanism to know the real-time level of floods at present. While the BMC has actively taken measures to minimise the problems at 280 such spots, the work on the remaining spots is also in progress, reveal officials.

Interestingly, the BMC had installed similar sensor based flood gauges in the Mithi River earlier. This has helped the civic body in monitoring the level of water in this infamous river that had led to the 2005 deluge.

While talking about this project, BMC officials elucidated how this instrument will prove to be extremely helpful in managing the entire flooding situation. The flood gauge will help the civic body in collecting localised information like the level of waterlogging, amount of rainfall recorded in the area with time, water receding duration and other such information.

Based on the information collected with these flood gauges, BMC will be able to take better decisions to enhance the stormwater drainage system during monsoon in Mumbai. Moreover, the sensors will also be helpful in alerting BMC's Disaster Management Cell in case of rising flood levels selected locations.

In addition to this, the BMC has also decided to increase the number of dewatering pumps across Mumbai. Reportedly, the civic body will deploy more than 380 de-watering pumps this monsoon in Mumbai.

The BMC had earlier stated that the problem of flooding can not be erased from Mumbai completely due to its numerous geographical challenges. However, with better planning and measures like this, the civic body is confident to devise the best possible solution to tackle the situation.