Municipal corporation considers shifting Worli pumping station

The much-needed Love Grove pumping station at Worli may be shifted from to a new location. The pumping station was planned over the Love Grove nullah but an old bridge will obstruct the flow of water to be pumped out.

The much-needed Love Grove pumping station at Worli may be shifted from to a new location.

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The pumping station was planned over the Love Grove nullah but an old bridge will obstruct the flow of water to be pumped out. The municipal corporation has conducted a study to see whether the height of the bridge can be raised.

A pumping station comprises high-powered pumps that flush floodwater out of low-lying areas during high tide. The sluice gates at the outfalls prevent seawater from entering into the city.

HT’ audit of pumping stations in Mumbai, published June 5, revealed that the city needs more pumping stations. Eight pumping stations were first recommended in 1983 by international consultants Watson and Hawksley and then the expert Chitale committee post the July 2005 deluge.

The pumping station, planned under the Brihamumbai Storm Water Drains (BRIMSTOWAD) project, will help flush floodwater from low-lying areas from Crawford Market to Worli.

The consultants for the BRIMSTOWAD project, MWH India Private Limited, have been asked to study if the height of the bridge can be raised. If not, the pumping station will have to be shifted.

“We are still studying the feasibility of shifting the pumping station to the downstream, near Madraswadi,” said Chandrakant Watwe, chief engineer, storm water drain.

According to the report submitted by the contractor, who took the opinion of an expert, the pumping station will discharge excessive water at 3,600 cubic metres per minute but the bridge will limit this to 1,380 cubic metres per minute.

The bridge is 34 metres long and is 26.80 metres Town Hall dictum [reference point to measure the height of a structure]. It needs to be raised by at least 0.5 metres to make the pumping station effective.

“Keeping the bridge as it is will make the discharge capacity of the pumping station ineffective,” said a civic official from the Storm Water Drains department.

The pumping station needs an area of 6,000 square metres. The Love Grove nullah is 1.22 lakh metres long with a catchment area of 1,300 hectares.

The current location for the pumping station has several underground utilities, including a large sewer line, which will be difficult to locate and shift.

Besides, Madraswadi is a thickly populated slum with more than 300 shanties and moving the pumping station here will mean relocating the slum dwellers.