Work on Mumbai's first urban check dam is set to kick off in November. The dam, which is to be built on a river near the Dhobi Ghat area, will be built through community participation. Once complete, the dam will create a small stretch of riverfront with water inside it round the year. Authorities also aim to make it a tourism zone. According to the plan, once the check dam is ready, it will help ensure that there is a 800-metre stretch of water storage post monsoon. River March — a citizen's movement to rejuvenate the four rivers of Mumbai — had approached the Art of Living (AOL) Foundation to help build a five feet Kolhapuri-type check dam on Dahisar river, just as it exits Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) at Borivali. There would be four to five feet deep water collected in the river outside SGNP round the year, thus helping recharge the groundwater table as well as bringing back biodiversity in the surrounding area. Tourism potential is also being explored as this rejuvenated zone could have walkways and even plantations around. Local politicians have even proposed boating in this area too. "The contractor who has been appointed for the work will be visiting the site this week to assess the ground situation including current water levels in the river so that he can bring in the machinery and begin the work. The entire project has been taken up by AOL, which would be raising funds for the check dam costing Rs 24 lakh, which is likely to be ready by mid-December," said Himanshu Mehta, co-ordinator of AOL, who is managing the project. He said that they have all the required permission from BMC as well as Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). Mehta said the check dam will have collapsible gates that can be manually detached during monsoon to avoid flooding. "AOL has built several such check dams across Maharashtra that has helped in water conservation. A proper structural audit will be done of this check dam once its ready," he said.

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