Environment Clearance in Kasarvadavali, Thane.

When a Kasarvadavali township applies for environment clearance, the appraisal committee asks where its water will come from. Layouts at the city's northern edge draw on a municipal network whose supply has often lagged behind the pace of building, and many lean on tankers in the dry months. The application needs a supply commitment from the corporation, a water balance that reuses treated sewage, and rainwater harvesting that does real work. We build that balance from the real demand of the proposed flats.

Kasarvadavali lies towards the northern end of Thane's stretch of Ghodbunder Road, below the hills of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and short of the climb to Gaimukh. The village is still there, with its own lanes and houses, but most of the land around it has been built as townships in recent years, and some of the newest layouts reach right up to the foot of the hills. Metro Line 4 was planned with a station here, and the area is changing from the city's far edge into a connected neighbourhood. The forest is a constant presence: from windows, on walks, and sometimes on the roads at night.