This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Follow up with the bacteriological testing.(March 2020) |
The 2006 Mumbai "sweet" seawater incident was a strange phenomenon during which residents of Mumbai claimed that the water at Mahim Creek [1] had suddenly turned sweet. Within hours, residents of Gujarat claimed that seawater at Tithal beach had turned sweet as well. This caused a mass hysteria among people who started coming in large numbers to drink the sea water.
In the aftermath of the incidents, local authorities feared the possibility of a severe outbreak of water-borne diseases, such as gastroenteritis. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board had warned people not to drink the water, [2] but despite this many people had collected it in bottles, even as plastic and rubbish had drifted by on the current. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai had ordered a bacteriological report into the "sweet" water, but suspected that "contamination in the water might have been reduced due to the waters from Mithi river flowing into the mouth of Mahim Bay". [3]
Geologists at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay offered the explanation that water turning sweet was a natural phenomenon. Continuous rainfall over the preceding few days had caused a large pool of fresh water to accrue in an underground rock formation near the coast, the pool then discharging into the sea as a large "plume" as fractures in the rocks widened. Because of the differences in density, the discharged fresh water floated on top of the salt water of the sea and spread along the coast. Over time, the two would mix to become normal sea water once more. [4]
According to Valsad District Collector D Rawal, the reason for the water in Gujarat tasting less salty than usual was that because of the monsoon, two rivers (Auranga and Banki) were overflowing into the sea in the region. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
A similar natural phenomenon is also observed in the case of halocline.
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Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%. This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately 35 grams (1.2 oz) of dissolved salts. The average density at the surface is 1.025 kg/L. Seawater is denser than both fresh water and pure water because the dissolved salts increase the mass by a larger proportion than the volume. The freezing point of seawater decreases as salt concentration increases. At typical salinity, it freezes at about −2 °C (28 °F). The coldest seawater still in the liquid state ever recorded was found in 2010, in a stream under an Antarctic glacier: the measured temperature was −2.6 °C (27.3 °F).
Mahim (Marathi: माहिम) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway and Harbour Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network is the last station of the city, as neighboring Bandra comes in Mumbai Suburb. Mahim is an ethnically and religiously diverse town and has a Hindu temple, church, mosque and Parsi fire-temple existing within a few meters of each other. The town has a large Rich and Upper Middle class Marathi population.
Dharavi is a residential area in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered India's largest slum and the world's third largest slum. With a population of about 1,000,000 and a population density of over 418,410/km2 (1,083,677/sq mi), Dharavi is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
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Although the tanks have long vanished, the city of Bombay once had many water tanks within its city limits. They were once the only source of water to the city. The only testimony to their existence is the names of the roads in their vicinity, which befuddles many citizens as to the original location to these mystifying relics of the past.
The Daman Ganga formerly called the Sandalcalo River is a river in western India. The river's headwaters are on the western slope of the Western Ghats range, and it flows west into the Arabian Sea. The river flows through Maharashtra and Gujarat states, as well as the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. The industrial towns of Vapi, Dadra and Silvassa lie on the north bank of the river, and the town of Daman occupies both banks of the river's mouth.
Makhdoom Ali Mahimi Shafi'i was a saint and scholar of international repute. He lived during the time of the Tughlaq dynasty and that of Sultan Ahmed Shah of Gujarat, and was married to the Sultan's sister. He is widely acknowledged for his scholarly treatises, liberal views and humanist ideals. Mahimi was born into a family of Arab travelers from Iraq who had settled down on the island of Mahim known as Nawayath, one of the seven islands that later formed the city of Bombay.
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