Drowning in Neglect: Guwahati’s Water Bodies Choke Amid Rising Flood Risk

Dikshita Das

As the spells of monsoon rain hit Guwahati, the city once again grapples with waterlogged streets, stranded vehicles, and overflowing drains. While the administration scrambles with emergency pumps and traffic diversions, the underlying cause of this annual flood crisis lies largely ignored—the slow death of Guwahati’s rivers and wetlands.

From the Bharalu River to beels like Borsola, Silsako, and Deepor Beel, the city’s natural drainage systems are either choked with waste, encroached by development, or neglected into irrelevance.

The Bharalu River, the flowing tributary originating from the Basistha Hills, has been reduced to an open drain. It receives an overwhelming amount of untreated sewage, household waste, and industrial pollutants, making it one of the city’s most contaminated water bodies.

“I can’t even walk past the river without covering my nose,” says Basir Ali, a shopkeeper near Bishnupur. “During rains, it floods and is nearly about to enter our shops.”

The river carries a significant portion of Guwahati’s municipal waste, including sewage from markets, commercial establishments, hotels, restaurants, and schools. It has been reduced to a stagnant water body with high toxicity levels due to free carbon dioxide and also has high levels of hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) due to the heavy dumping of organic materials in the riverbed. Encroachments along the riverbanks—like businesses constructing buildings, shops, houses, dumping construction debris, etc.—have narrowed and shallowed the river, exacerbating flooding issues.

Located in the heart of the city near Paltan Bazar, Borsola Beel once acted as a major stormwater reservoir. Today, it is almost unrecognizable—covered in plastic waste, construction debris, and uncontrolled vegetation like water hyacinth.

“I’ve been seeing this beel get dirtier every year,” says Mina Devi, a resident nearby. “The GMC doesn’t clean it, and people keep dumping garbage into it.”

It plays a crucial role in urban flood mitigation by absorbing stormwater, but illegal constructions and dumping have reduced the beel’s area and capacity to manage floodwaters.

When asked, residents are quick to point fingers at the authorities.

“The government never cleans the beels or rivers,” said an elderly man near the beel.

Alongside these two water bodies, there are many others like them. Two of them are Silsako Beel and Deepor Beel, Guwahati’s largest wetlands.

Silsako Beel: Flood Buffer Turned Real Estate

Once a vital floodplain near Six Mile and VIP Road, Silsako Beel has been largely encroached by unauthorized constructions and real estate projects. Despite eviction efforts by GMDA, the area continues to shrink. The beel’s drainage capacity is now severely compromised, contributing to regular waterlogging in surrounding neighborhoods.

Deepor Beel: Guwahati’s largest wetland, Deepor Beel, is a Ramsar site recognized for its ecological importance. During monsoon, it functions as a natural sponge, reducing flooding in southwest Guwahati.

Yet, it suffers from severe pollution, mainly due to the nearby Boragaon garbage dump, illegal fishing, and encroachments.

“People come to admire its beauty but leave behind garbage. It’s beautiful and dying,” says Rupam Kalita, a student.

However, field visits showed locals dumping waste into drains and beels. A vendor near Borsola admitted, “We know it’s wrong, but what can we do? There’s no proper system.”

A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE CITY — AND ITS PEOPLE

With every monsoon, Guwahati moves closer to an ecological tipping point. Its natural flood-control systems are vanishing—buried under waste, encroached upon, and vanishing. These water bodies are vital parts of Guwahati. Their ability to drain stormwater, recharge groundwater, and support biodiversity has been hampered by decades of mismanagement. But one major factor continues to accelerate their decline: littering.

Plastic waste, food wrappers, construction debris, and sewage dumped directly into these water bodies clog their flow and reduce their capacity, turning even a brief downpour into a flooding disaster. We, the residents of Guwahati, must stop treating rivers and wetlands as dumping grounds.

The city can only fight and succeed against urban flooding if its people take responsibility. That means no more throwing waste into drains, no more illegal dumping, and a collective commitment to keeping our water bodies clean. These rivers and beels are not garbage bins; they are our city’s lungs and lifelines.

Unless both the authorities and the citizens act together, Guwahati will keep flooding—not just with rain, but with the consequences of its own negligence.