Environment report paints a grim picture of Maharashtra

More than 3 crore people in 28 districts of the state now depend on water tankers

The State of Environment Report (SoER) for Maharashtra highlights the biggest challenge for the most urbanised state in India — that of growing pressure on the environment and infrastructure as 42.3 per cent of the population lives in the metro cities. The biggest of them all, states the report, is to demystify the ambiguities in the roles, responsibilities and jurisdiction of multiple state government organisations for green state.

Even today, the 16,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste, out of which 50 per cent is generated in three cities — Mumbai, Thane and Pune is dumped in low-lying areas where compaction and earth cover is missing except for big cities. Such dumping is leading to toxic chemicals leading to ground water pollution. Big cities lack space for dumping ground and new sites are locked in lengthy acquisition procedure.

With depletion of ground water levels, more than three crore people in 28 districts ie 30 per cent population of the state now depend on water tankers. Only 46 per cent of the state’s population has access to sanitation facilities, giving rise to many waterborne diseases especially in rural areas. Very few towns in the state have planned sewage system. For example, in Konkan and Western regions, about 45 per cent of local bodies have underground drainage system. About 99 per cent sewage generated by municipal councils and 50 per cent of that generated by municipal corporations goes untreated.

The worst case across the state is safe drinking water. As per World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for drinking water constituents, the bacteriological count for drinking water should be zero per 100 ml.
In comparison, the number varies from 30 to 64 per 100 ml across all districts in the state. The SoER points out that on an average 1.2 million people are affected every year by gastroenteritis, infective hepatitis, typhoid and about 350 people die of bacteriological contamination of drinking water.

Maharashtra produces 45 per cent of the total waste water generated by coastal states, thanks to the major industrial clusters in Thane and Mumbai districts. The inshore waters of the state particularly around cities and towns, receive this wastewater which has severely deteriorated the ecological quality of these water bodies. The marine zone at Versova, Mahim, Thane and coastal sea of Mumbai is severely affected.

Heavy vehicular growth is triggering high levels of pollution in cities like Nasik, Nagpur, Solapur, Chandrapur, Kalyan and Pune (which has the highest concentration of vehicles in the state - 19 per cent). “To control air pollution we must invest in good roads, clean fuels and better traffic management. We must promote concept of mass celebrations of fireworks such as Hanabi in Japan in which two sets of people gather on either side of water body at a pre-designation date and time. Such fireworks are safer and eco-friendly,” stated D B Boralkar, outgoing member secretary, MPCB who worked on the report for the past three years. The MPCB’s draft proposal to attract investment in the environment sector in form of an SPV is still pending with the state.