Gurgaon floods in just 90 mins after heavy rains. Mumbai and Bengaluru come to a standstill every monsoon. But what if the solution is working with nature, not against it?
By late 1960s, New York's Staten Island was drowning. Development boomed, population tripled, and unplanned construction began blocking septic tanks. Floods hit homes every winter.
Stormwater drains? Too costly to build everywhere. So the city flipped the script — instead of paving over nature, they revived it.
They called it the Bluebelt. Instead of laying down concrete, they restored creeks, revived wetlands and protected natural floodplains. Nature became the city’s drainage system.
The results were staggering. Flooding dropped. Local water quality improved. And the city saved $300 million in infrastructure costs.
Compare that to Gurgaon. After spending ₹500 crore on storm drains, the city still floods every year. Why? Because natural drainage from the Aravallis has been cut off or built over.
Much of Mumbai sits just above sea level, and some areas like Dadar, Mahim, and Kurla lie below the high tide mark. So when high tide meets heavy rain, floods are almost inevitable.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru sits 900m above sea level, but floods like it’s on the coast. Because we’ve paved over 1,400 historic lakes and blocked natural valleys.
What if we brought back those streams, revived wetlands, protected floodplains, and built parks that double as stormwater buffers, just like Staten Island did?
The Bluebelt wasn’t a luxury. It was a necessity. It protected homes, saved money, and made neighbourhoods more liveable. All by respecting the land beneath them.