Learning from the River Mithi: Insights into Urban Catchment Management
Urban rivers across the world are often labelled as polluted or beyond recovery. In 2019, ALP Synergy Ltd set out to understand why, through a catchment investigation of the River Mithi in Mumbai, India.
Mumbai is home to over 20 million people, yet the city is less than half the size of Greater London. Flowing through its centre, the River Mithi faces intense pressure from urbanisation, sewage, industrial discharges and plastic pollution. Challenges shared by many cities globally.
From Collaboration to Action
Our work on the River Mithi grew from the India–UK Water Centre workshop on Science and Innovation for Catchment Management, delivered by ALP Synergy at the University of Warwick in partnership with IIT Bombay. The workshop helped build collaborations through the PATHWAYs and INTCATCH projects, linking research, innovation and real-world application.
Four months later, a joint team from ALP Synergy, Thames21 and the University of Warwick carried out an on-the-ground catchment investigation in Mumbai.
What We Observed Along the River
In the upper reaches, close to informal settlements, we saw encouraging signs of community-led action. Local residents were engaging in recycling initiatives, organising litter picks and beginning to take ownership of their river.
Further downstream, pressures increased. Industrial discharges, polluted road run-off and restricted access highlighted the complexity of managing urban rivers at scale. In the lower reaches, untreated sewage and plastic waste dominated the floodplain before the river entered the sea.
Despite these challenges, nature persisted throughout the catchment, underlining the importance of protecting and restoring even heavily impacted river systems.
Key Lessons from the River Mithi
Our experience reinforced several core principles of effective catchment management:
- Community engagement is critical to long-term river health
- Pollution pressures vary along a catchment and require targeted solutions
- Monitoring, innovation and governance must work together
- International collaboration accelerates learning and impact
Urban rivers are not lost causes. With the right partnerships, data and local action, they can become part of a more resilient and sustainable future.