Plastic blocks Pune's drains, rainwater flow

PUNE: If citizens have had to wade through rainwater to reach homes, offices or any other destination this past week, you can blame at least half the trouble on the carelessly thrown disposable tea cups, single-use plastic bags, gutkha packets, biscuit wrappers, chips' pouches and other waste on the road instead of a dust bin.
All of it comes back to bite us when the rainwater carries this detritus and clogs the storm water drains leading to water stagnation and extensive pooling on the roads.
Of the approximately 1,700 tons of solid waste the city generates every day, close to 180 ton is plastic waste. Despite the PMC opening at least 200 material recovery centres to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover and installing bottle crushing machines at some 20 locations, plastic comprises most of the litter on the roads.
No road across the city was spared from waterlogging on several days of rain in the city this week. Storm water channels along the roads had too much silt, the drain lids which have holes to let water in were blocked, and the collection system, a series of underground pipes which receives and carries storm water, spewed water.
Citizens who poked and prodded drain lids to ease the water flow found them choked with plastic. Santosh Mane from Juna Bazar area had to remove the concrete storm lids to clear the water pool around his small house.
"During the monsoon, we face a lot of problems due to plastic. When we remove the drain lids to let water out, we find chunks of plastic bags, paper cups and thermocol clogging the drain. A sizeable portion of the city's waste from the streets ends up in the drains and leads to waterlogging in our area. Drain water gets mixed with rain water and enters our houses. We are prone to jaundice, diarrhoea, typhoid and other diseases. So we are forced to take emergency measures like removing the concrete lids when it rains hard," he said.
The Pune Municipal Corporation staff tasked with draining the water from the roads also found waste blocking the underground pipes of which plastic formed a visibly large chunk.
Ragini Jadhav, a conservancy worker who works in the Peth areas every day said, "I have to clean the streets opposite Mahatma Phule Mandai and I see tons of plastic waste lying around. During the monsoon, plastic use is high as paper bags instead of paper bags. However, people carelessly throw single-use plastic bags on the streets. Thermocol is the worst as it cannot be recycled."
The amount of plastic found in storm water drains is also a reflection of the PMC's inadequate pre-monsoon cleaning measures. Santosh Tandale, head of the Pune Municipal Corporation drainage department, said they clean storm water drains prior to every monsoon and every year they find tons of plastic clogging the collection system.
"Citizens use plastic cups, straws, bags and plates at eateries or hotels and throw them on the streets. Some of this plastic ends up in the drains. Despite cleaning before every monsoon, we face waterlogging because all the plastic gets washed into the collection system and blocks the free flow of water. We see this problem in a severe form after the first showers."
Tandale added that most non-recyclable items end up at the river and the slum areas as the waste flows freely from the city areas through the drains and then accumulates at the end which leads to choking of the drain pipes.
"Most plastic waste lands in the streets around the Juna Bazar, Janata Vasahat, Ramtekdi areas and in the Mutha River along Baba Bhide Bridge," Tandale added.
Nikhil Naik, a regular commuter from Kharadi to Hadapsar, said every monsoon, when the civic body clears the storm water drains, a majority of this sludge is plastic items and thermocol. It is piled up along the drain side and almost never carted away. "Usually, the first showers carry back all this waste into the drainpipes," he said.
During waterlogging, fearing that drain water entering their homes, people in low-lying areas open the drain lids. "Open chambers are a two-wheeler rider's worst nightmare. But we cannot blame citizens for opening them as the system is blocked due to plastic," he said.