Breathing life into the dying rivers of Pune! https://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/breathing-life-dying-rivers-pune Aarti Kelkar Khambete 25 Jan 2021 Jeevitnadi continues with its mission to breathe life into Pune’s rivers and has been awarded the prestigious Bhagirath Prayas Samman 2020 this year! Last two years have been witnessing heavy rains and extensive flooding of the city. One must remember that Pune is flood prone city! We have five rivers and more than six watersheds, each having a peculiar character. For example, the river Mutha originates and flows down from a steep mountain that has very less vegetation. The erosion is thus very high leading to deposition of a load of sediments that get carried along with the water into the low lying areas that get flooded.
There are a number of settlements in the pediment zone and runoff is very high and flows with a tremendous velocity carrying a lot of silt along with it when there are heavy rains.
Many constructions have been given permission in flood lines even after they were drawn and the width of the river is very narrow. To make it worse, there are large developmental projects like Metro and ring roads in the river bed. The bridges on rivers get constructed without any thought of minimising the environmental stresses on rivers and without using better and alternate designs. Urban rivers have so far been looked at differently. The focus always has been on harnessing urban rivers and their spaces for gains without consideration for the health and well being of the river. We wish to change this perception and help rivers be naturally flowing, clean and safe for generations to come!
Experts Warn Of Flooding in Pune Amid Prolonged Severe Weather https://www.mypunepulse.com/experts-warn-of-flooding-in-pune-amid-prolonged-severe-weather/
Punepulse September 27, 2023 Shailaja Deshpande, Founder, Jeevitnadi, Pune said, “The shape of Pune city is like a saucer. The bottom source of any type of water body is the river as water from any stream, nala etc. eventually enters a river. If projects like Riverfront Development etc., where, because of the walls built near rivers that block the channels of water to flow out, continue, then levels of river water will increase. As a result, the increased water levels will not have a medium to flow out and will enter the city flooding the entire city.”