City As Lab - Research Group

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 City As Lab - Research Group

Page
Contents
Number

Information about project and

Rationale Page 1

Abstract Page 2

TABLE OF Relevance of research

question Page 3

CONTENTS Ways to collect Data for our

research Page 5

Countries affected by floods Page 6

Answers to our RQ Page 7

Conclusion Page 8

Citations Page 9

Group Members - Nikoonj Patil, Sahil Paliwal, Shivam Bhatt, Arnav Dhole, Ishaan Rawal, Niket
Adthakkar.

Mentor - Ms. Alisha Siddiqui

School Name - JBCN International School, Borivali

Research Question - What factors affect the efficiency of the drainage system between Borivali
and Kandivali and how can we improve it?

Hypothesis - The drainage system is highly inefficient due to constant pollution in the sewers.
This results in the drainage going into seas and rivers that pollute our environment. Making
sure people do not pollute the sewers and the manholes are lower than the roads will help in
making sure the roads won’t flood.

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Abstract
When we were first given the choice to research topics related to our city, Mumbai, it did not
take us long to realize the most obvious problem all Mumbaikars face. The Mumbai monsoon
season. This goes without saying that Mumbai has been a victim of horrible monsoon conditions,
and regular floods that disrupt the lifestyle of tens of thousands of people. When we were
pondering about why these monsoons have been so fatal for decades, a simple answer came to
all our minds. The drainage systems. We figured that the drainage systems in Mumbai must be
heavily undermaintained, and hence causing floods throughout Mumbai. And we cannot scale
all of Mumbai to find our answers, so we chose Kandivali and Borivali to investigate.

And after counting in all the factors, we came up with the research question -

What factors affect the efficiency of the drainage system between Borivali and Kandivali and
how can we improve it?

After going through with the research, and the investigation, we came to a satisfying
conclusion to our relatable research question. Although we did not use all our ways to collect
data, looking at the time allotted, we still believe that the result of this research paper is
conclusive and to the point. Although we could have done a bit more of the primary research,
we still managed to make this an informative and eye-opening read.
(234 Words)

Our hypothesis was proven right.

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Rationale
We want to pursue this research question because every year we see many people’s lives and
families disrupted due to rain in parts of Mumbai, and we cannot help but wonder how we can
safeguard those families from the floods.
The inefficiency of the drainage system has caused many major problems in Mumbai, like traffic
during monsoon seasons, heavy loss of property and money, and the slight decline in the
economy due to many people losing their workplaces. Hence, we concluded that we should
contribute our time in solving this problem regarding some parts of Mumbai, specifically parts
of Borivali and Kandivali.

An estimate of 100,000 people has been negatively affected due to rains in the monsoon season
this year (2021), and 125 deaths have been recorded in Maharashtra. Plus, over 90,000 people
were rescued due to the floods. The landslide caused by the floods trampled a small village
called Taliye, killing 42 people. Constant power cuts had been going on throughout the season
of monsoon in Maharashtra when the state received the heaviest rainfall in around 4 decades.
Injuries and deaths were all recorded due to various lists of reasons like the collapse of a bridge,
or a building, resulting in heavy loss of property. All this is caused by an inefficient drainage
system.

Nikoonj - Monsoon floods have caused a lot of problems. I have seen many people trapped in
their buildings and many people on the lower floors of the building had water in their house,
destroying all their hard-earned money. This causes many public problems to rise, for example,
Transport, daily needs (food, water, etc.) and electricity.

Shivam - Floods in the monsoon are the biggest problems in our area. We see lots of low-land
people having to quit jobs as the houses are in danger. They lack basic resources like food,
water(clean), shelter, and other necessary things. And the biggest problem from floods is
‘diseases. Well, most of us know that diseases are sometimes deadly, especially in slum areas.

Niket - Mumbai has always had drainage problems, the floods happening in Mumbai affect
people travelling. A ten-minute journey can take 1 hour due to rains blocking roads. I have
experienced this many times and it is not only me, every Mumbaikar has experienced it once
and we all hate it.

Ishaan - I want to try and make drainage systems very smooth because I am worried about our
car being stuck in the water. It has happened once to us and we were stuck on the road, I don't

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want this to happen again to us or anyone else. This makes transportation easier for most
people.

Arnav -The drainage system in Mumbai always has problems when it's raining in Mumbai so
mostly it floods because of the drainage system in Mumbai. When the cars, trucks, buses etc
are travelling they always get stuck on the road because of the water blockage.

Sahil - The Drainage system in Mumbai has always had major problems, which have been
highlighted every year between June to September. Each year we see thousands of people who
have lost their livelihoods or their loved ones to the flood. And me being a Mumbaikar, I feel I
should help our fellows in need by solving this immensely important problem. It is just unfair to
just sit back and let this ruckus unleash on my people.

Advik - The Drainage System in the world is a major problem and especially in Asia it has
damaged lots of industrial equipment adding to economic loss 📉. So, we are making this topic
so that we can highlight the important issue in particular places where flooding is happening
drastically every year for example Zhengzhou, Jakarta, Kochi etc.

Is this Research Question even relevant?

In our collective opinion, we strongly believe that it is heavily relevant. To be completely convinced,
all of us took photos of the state of the drainage system near our houses.

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Borivali East (1) Borivali West (2) Borivali west (3)

Kandivali East (4) Borivali East (5) Borivali East (6)

Inefficient Drainage System

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Photo 1 – The sewer is small and could be overflowing easily in heavy rains. The sewer also has
blockage due to some garbage lying in it.

Photo 2 - So it was the monsoon season, and it was raining heavily so there was a lot of dirty
water in the sewerage. The water level was rising, and it was coming on the ground.

Photo 3 – the place is already filled with water. Some rain could be a problem and make the
water level rise and overflow.

Photo 4 – The roads are well maintained in terms of drainage system. Water is not seen on
road which is safe for vehicles to pass by.

Photo 5 – There is garbage overflooding and spilled out everywhere on the road. This picture
just goes on to show how ill-maintained the drainage system are, and how the public is
treating them.

Photo 6 – The water in the sewer is filled with garbage and there are some houses that are
flooding their garbage in the drainage systems, which is obviously not good for the drains.

All these photos go on to show how undervalued and under-maintained the drainage system in
most parts of Mumbai is. They are either too small, overflooded with garbage, or incapable to
handle the Mumbai floods.

Even though we covered quite a small area in Mumbai, many other reports of various problems
caused by floods in Mumbai goes on to present the same opinion -
Mumbai’s drainage system cannot manage extreme rainfall. Even though we have been
suffering from this problem for years, we and the BMC have yet to take some action on it.

Ways to collect Data for our research -

1. Experimentation - We feel that implementing our solution is the best way to find out if it
is effective or not. And then our mistakes are also highlighted when we experiment with
the solution. We plan to write detailed observations on the experiments and tests, which
will be conducted before the end of the monsoon season but on an exceedingly small
scale.
2. Personal Interviews - There are people in Mumbai who have experienced the problem
that we are discussing and have probable solutions to it. We intend on finding those
people and collecting data. Experience is the best teacher.

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3. Expert Interviews - We intend to understand the problem by people who have thoroughly
researched it, which will help us gain a fresh perspective on the problem and discover
the underrated solutions towards it. Again, detailed observations will be made about the
conversation that we have.
4. Surveys - According to us, surveys are the best option to gain data, as we have a diverse
group of people, who have experienced the problem, who will be giving us their opinion
on the problem of the drainage system in Mumbai. We plan to spread
out the survey as far as possible to have more amounts of data; plus, observations will
be made as we receive our responses.

Answers To Our Research Question -

As mentioned in the Ways to collect Data segment, we used forms to get a wide array of
opinions on our topic. And as expected, most of the people who responded to our form faced at
least some amount of drainage problems, and the majority also thought that the reason was
more dependent on us Mumbaikars than the government, or the BMC. Many people thought
that due to us being careless about where we throw our garbage, the drains get blocked, and
hence are not able to function as effectively.
(Survey Link - https://forms.gle/pSawVskAcvMnq6AM9)
Graphs –

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Results -
According to the form responses that we got, the factors that affect the effectiveness of the
drainage system are - Improper garbage disposal, careless attitude of the public as well as
the BMC, designs of the drainage system, and the rare cleanings of the drainage system.
(Some of the factors are based on open ended questions)

And, without further ado, here are probable ways to increase the effectiveness of the drainage
system -

Flood barriers -

Some countries use demountable flood barriers to protect areas which are prone to floods.
Lightweight metals are mostly used as they are inexpensive, can be mounted, and dismounted
easily and quickly.

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Picture provided by BBC - Glass barriers in use in Keswick, Cumbria

Natural Barriers -

Natural barriers such as hills, tree trunks or holes can also help. Trees can also help catch rainfall
and help take water from the soil. Trees which fell can be used to block small streams and help
push high levels of water

Picture provided by BBC

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Sustainable drainage -

Most of the countries have concrete which forces the water to enter the drainage system. The
drainage system gets overwhelmed by the amount of water rushing into it. There can be soil
patches so that some amount of water can seep into the soil

Dredging rivers -

Dredging basically means removing silt (which consists of fine sand, clay, and small particles of
rock) from the bottom of a pond/lake. This can increase the river’s capacity to hold the amount
of water

Larger Pipes -

We can make the pipes larger so that it can accommodate space for sewer water and
rainwater. This can ensure that more water can go through the drainage system and not
overwhelm the drainage system.

Separate Pipes -

Same Idea as large pipes, but we keep 2 pipes. One for the sewer water itself and another for
rainwater. Special drains can be created which are opened during the monsoon season to take
the water in.

Countries that are affected by poor drainage systems

and their solutions to the problem

Nigeria -

Flooding is the most common environmental hazard in Nigeria. Poor drainage systems
cause flooding. disasters have occurred in Abuja (2005, 2007, and 2000), Osogbo (2006,
2002), Yobe (2000), and Akure (2006, 2000, 2002, 2004). coastal cities of Lagos, Port
Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo, Warri among others have claimed that many lives were lost
during the floods, and properties worth millions were destroyed. The flooding posed
many environmental challenges. These challenges are associated with poor
maintenance of the drainage system.

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Some parts of Nigeria have implemented a drainage system that is all centered around
connecting the sewer canals to the natural river bodies near the drainage pipes.
However, as speculated by many, this backfired as people started throwing all their
household waste into the drains and hence, dirtying the rivers to which the drainage was
flushed into.

Nigeria’s government does not seem too concerned with the drainage problem as of
right now, but they still have taken it seriously and made plans to improve it in the
foreseen future. They intend to start making sustainable drainage, or Suds for short. Suds
is one of those new-generation ideas to stop flooding, which can be seen as competent
and working in the UK, one of the most well-known countries that uses Suds. To be
concise about what Suds are, they are just an urbanized way of what Nigeria tried to
implement, which was directing the rainwater to water sources. This can be one solution
that parts of Mumbai can implement to decrease flooding.

China –
Several floods struck China starting in June 2021, most of them caused by heavy rainfalls
in different areas. According to the World Meteorological Organization, such heavy rains
are frequently a result of climate change.

Climate change is causing heavier rainfall in many storms. In early August, the
government said 302 people had died in Henan Province from flooding since mid-July,
including 14 who died in a subway tunnel that rapidly flooded in Zhengzhou. These
incidents tell us that China has a lot of problems related to flooding.

China's sponge city program aims to use pervious pavements, rain gardens, green roofs,
urban wetlands, and other innovations to absorb water during storms, which will really
help in the prevention of flooding.

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Tokyo -

Tokyo is known to have impeccable drainage systems, and it can handle anything nature
throws at it. In Tokyo, massive tunnels are utilized to protect Japan’s capital city from
becoming flooded. Consequently, $3 billion was spent on a tunnel that would be able to
take all that Mother Nature could throw at it.

Due to Tokyo being a Tsunami-prone area, its investment in the massive tunnels paid off
and saved countless times. In fact, Tokyo’s tunnels are so effective that there could be a
tsunami occurring and the population of Tokyo wouldn’t feel a thing. Making Tokyo
Safe from floods.

Greece -

Greece had its first flood problems in late 1936 when 2000 people died and 20,000
people were injured having a huge impact in Greece. Athens, northern Greece, and on
the islands of Rhodes, Kos, Santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Evia, which was one of the
areas worst ravaged by wildfires in the summer. Authorities in the capital's southern
coastal neighborhoods restricted traffic on two main avenues and on the main road
leading north from Athens are some of the main places where floods mainly occur.

To prevent this flooding “The Council of Europe Development Bank” (CEB) has approved
a €70 million loan to the Greek government to finance anti-flood measures in the regions
of Attica, Central Macedonia and the Peloponnese and a lot of other states.

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South Africa -

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains
downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, sea, or ocean. The
drainage basin acts as a funnel, collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin
and channeling it into a waterway. Each drainage basin is separated by natural occurring
hills or mountains and other topographical landmasses. The problem in this system is water
pollution. We can solve this issue by making sure the water that has been accumulated
flows into A proper water management system. This will make sure that water hopefully
will not flow into rivers or oceans.

Conclusion -
As we embark on the major drainage problems that the World faces, it is blatantly
obvious that we need some improvement on the drainage system all over the world,
especially in Mumbai. Statistically, Mumbai is one of the top countries prone to flooding
every monsoon, and NOTHING SIGNIFICANT has been done about it.

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As the graphs of the google form perfectly represent, it is not only the effort of the BMC,
but the collective effort of the aware public and the diligent BMC to fix the long going
problem of drainage issues of many parts of Mumbai.

We have tried our best to emphasize the fact that we care about our city, and we need to
preserve it with our utmost efforts. As of now, it is just a research project, but with the
public’s help, it might just be something much greater. A spark to a revolution.

Citations -
1. express drainage solutions
2. BBC - What's the best way to prevent flooding?
3. Wavin
4. DW
5. BBC - India monsoon: 110 dead after heavy rainfall in Maharashtra
6. Reuters - Heavy rain in India triggers floods, landslides; at least 125 dead
7. Economic Times - Rains in Mumbai
8. Hindustan Times - Mumbai rains Highlights: City continues to get battered by heavy
rainfall
9. https://coebank.org/en/news-and-publications/news/ceb-provides-70-million-to-
greece-for-flood-prevention-measures/
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_China_floods
11. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/world/asia/china-flooding-evacuations.html
12. https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2021/0729/To-curb-urban-flooding-
China-is-building-sponge-cities.-Do-they-work

Reflections -
Sahil - This project would be one of the most memorable projects that I have ever done
simply because this problem is relatable to millions of other people, and to work on such
an impactful problem and leave a mark, however significant, is the important part.

Nikoonj - I enjoyed researching the drainage system. We never realised that many
countries don’t even have a drainage system, a thing which we are taking for granted.
Many countries have lost a lot of money because of floods.

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Shivam - The project was a ton of fun and informative. As I was researching, I found out
many unknown facts about the drainage system all over the world. I was shocked to
know that such effective drainage systems exist in parts of the Earth.

Ishaan – TI his project was especially interesting for me as it was extremely close to my
heart. As a Mumbaikar myself, I really wanted to understand what affected the efficiency
of the drainage system. The best part was to go and explore the conditions of the
drainage pipes near my area. Altogether, this was an enjoyable experience.

Arnav - I had a lot of fun doing this project. I enjoyed researching the drainage system for
different countries.

Advik - This topic was informative and creative for me because now I can truly understand
the cause and solutions for flood. I even learned new things while researching the
drainage system.

Niket - I had a great time doing this CAL project but I could not contribute much to it. My
group was very hard working and that thing really motivated me to contribute a little at
the last. Overall, I had a great time working with my teammates

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