Environmental groups launch 'spot the lake' contest as Hyacinth returns to Powai lake in Mumbai

The initiative is meant to jolt authorities and the public into recognising that interventions by the BMC and the MPCB have fallen well short of what the lake needs, NatConnect Foundation said.

Mumbai: With harmful water hyacinth once again carpeting large swathes of the 210-hectare Powai Lake in Mumbai, environmental groups have turned to satire to spotlight what they describe as cosmetic clean-up drives.

They have launched a tongue-in-cheek contest—“Spot the Lake”—inviting citizens to try and locate the waterbody amid the dense green mat of weeds.

The initiative is meant to jolt authorities and the public into recognising that interventions by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) have fallen well short of what the lake needs, NatConnect Foundation said.

The campaign comes at a time when the much-awaited elections to the BMC, the richest civic body of India, is underway.“What we are seeing is largely surface-level action,” environmentalists said, arguing that the rapid return of hyacinth exposes a failure to address root causes.

Morning walkers noticed the hyacinth’s resurgence over the weekend. “It’s as if the weed has returned with vengeance,” said Anamika Sharma, a resident of Cosmopolitan Housing Society, Powai.

Pamela Cheema of a BMC-mandated Advanced Local Management group said the civic body had deployed just one harvester to tackle the sprawling infestation.

“One machine is simply not enough for a lake of this size,” she said, adding that the issue had been formally raised with officials.

The latest flare-up has revived wider concerns over accountability. Asserting that the era of silent acceptance is over, green groups say they are stepping up an aggressive New Year push to hold officials and elected representatives responsible for environmental degradation.

“The environment cannot wait any longer,” NatConnect Director B N Kumar said, insisting that accountability must top the 2026 agenda—especially as dust and air pollution continue to batter public health across the region.

Decades of mismanagement at Powai Lake, activists point out, yielded concrete action only after thousands of complaints and an online petition forced the BMC to begin sewage interception, de-silting and ecological restoration. By the civic body’s own admission, about 18 million litres of untreated sewage flows into the lake every day—an extraordinary lapse for a waterbody located in the heart of the country’s financial capital.

Despite intervention by the National Green Tribunal, campaigners say urgency on the ground remains missing.

“The officials may have time to respond to NGT notices before the next hearing, but what stops them from acting now and clearing the muck?” Kumar asked.

The BMC had promised to roll out a comprehensive plan—including sewage diversion and a dedicated sewage treatment plant—seven months ago. “One only hopes this doesn’t get stuck in the civic poll code of conduct,” he said.

NatConnect has renewed its online campaign and filed a fresh petition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arguing that environmental neglect is no longer a bureaucratic lapse but a governance failure affecting millions. Until meaningful action follows, activists say “Spot the Lake” will remain less a joke—and more an indictment.