Climate change will cost Mumbai Rs 35 lakh crores

Between 1901 and 2007, the city registered a mean temperature rise of 1.62 C. The sea level around the island city is rising by 2.4 mm every year.

By Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi

The coastal lines of Mumbai will see disaster, flash floods, outbreak of disease, building collapses, massive displacements and deaths by 2050 because of climate change. A study conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) affirms the statistics. The cumulative loss of income and infrastructure damage will aggregate to the tune of Rs 35 lakh crore by 2050.

Colaba, Worli, Bandra and Juhu areas will be the worst affected. A continuous rise in temperature would cause incessant rainfall. Over a period, this would increase in frequency and intensity. The 2,129 mm average rainfall till 1989 rose by 50 per cent to 3,214 mm by 2005-06. Extreme events like flash floods would occur regularly. Insufficient drainage network of the city would exacerbate the problem as one-fourth of Mumbai’s areas are low-lying. The areas between Colaba and Worli, where over 40 per cent of Mumbai’s population resides, would be most vulnerable.

High temperatures and a moisture laden atmosphere would lead to high humidity, increasing the prevalence of vector-borne diseases. By 2050, lung ailments like asthma would be common. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted a sea level rise by 38 cms by 2050. Ingress of seawater by just 200 meters would destroy 20,000 buildings along the coast. The century old drainage system in the city is as it is over flowing. The new arrivals in various locations will generate more fume and gases in the city while over flowing population will remain staying in nallahs and gutters. The Master Plan preparation is in offing for next two decades. Planners and godfathers of city must, at once, rethink the accommodation of the huge population outburst before climate change takes its toll.