Mumbai’s Saltpans

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Context:

The Centre approved the transfer of 256 acres of salt pan land in Mumbai to the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL), a joint venture between Adani Realty Group and the Maharashtra government, for building rental housing for slum dwellers.

What are ‘Salt pan lands’?

• A salt pan, also known as a salt flat, is an expanse of land which becomes coated with salt or other minerals.
• A salt pan is created when pools of seawater evaporate at a rate faster than it is replenished by rainfall.
• As the water evaporates, it leaves behind the minerals precipitated from the salt ions dissolved in the water.
• They are formed in coastal areas as well as in inland areas.
• In coastal areas, they are often associated with salt marshes.
  • • Salt marshes are areas of vegetation often found in sheltered water areas, such as estuaries or behind land-spits.

Salt pans in coastal areas of India

Formation mechanism

• As the tide rises and falls, it leaves behind deposits of fine silts and mud.
• As plants (like Mumbai’s mangroves) begin to grow in these areas the amount of mud and silt left behind increases eventually forming mud flats.
• Where there are hollows and troughs in the mud flat, seawater will be left behind as the tide falls.
• During these periods of low tide, the water in the pools partially evaporates – leaving behind highly concentrated areas of salty water, known as salt pans.

Geographical distribution

• Nationally, some 60,000 acres have been demarcated as salt pan lands, spread across Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
• Andhra Pradesh (20,716 acres) boasts the largest expanse of such land, followed by Tamil Nadu (17,095 acres) and Maharashtra (12,662 acres).

Significance of these pans

• Coastal erosion and flooding: Salt pans along with the mangroves act as an effective defence against coastal erosion and protecting the coastal cities from flooding.
• Ecological: These are important feeding areas for sea birds, as they host various species of insects.
• Livelihood: for traditional salt workers.

Threat to these pans

The salt pans are covered owing to construction. Eg: Proposed “slum-free Mumbai” project on the Wadala salt pan land.

Regulations

The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 2011, put these ecologically sensitive salt pans fall under CRZ-1B category, where no economic activity is allowed with the exception of salt extraction and natural gas exploration.

Challenges

• The contradiction between India’s climate change mitigation strategy (Conservation of coastal ecosystem to tackle extreme weather events like coastal flooding, flash flooding, Cyclones) and developmental projects in these overpopulated cities like Mumbai (encroachment of salt pans or marshes along with mangroves due to overpopulation).
• Loopholes in coastal area project clearance, as projects were approved despite "inadequacies" in their environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports.

Way forward

• Lower the intensity of Rural-Urban migration.
• Adopt the concept of “Vertical Rise of Cities”.
• Revisit and stringent the coastal regulation laws.

Must read articles

Coastal Regulation Zones: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/coastal-ecosystem-norms

Mangroves: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/decline-in-mangroves

Salt flats: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/atacama-salt-flat

Sources:

https://saltassociation.co.uk/education/physical-geography/

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/controversy-over-mumbais-salt-pans-why-do-these-lands-matter-9551821/