A survey released on Tuesday by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) assessing the public’s attitude towards the environment showed that 80% respondents in Mumbai refused to segregate garbage.

The findings were announced at a function in Parel in the presence of government officials, environmentalists and NGOs.

JK Banthia, state’s chief secretary, warned that disappearing water bodies is the city was an alarming trend and that the state government will have to be highly sensitive to environmental concerns. “Our research indicates that the state will receive erratic rainfall for the next 30 years and temperature peaks will be high for the next 50 years,” he said.

Dr RK Pachauri, director general, TERI, said it was important to institute a series of such surveys not only to understand the public on environmental issues but also to monitor the changes annually. “We want to make this an annual event to get feedback about the challenges in protection of the environment in city.”

In the survey, on the balance between environment and development, 62% Mumbaikars felt that environment and development were conflicting in nature and should be treated differently, while 34% felt that both can go hand in hand. On a positive note, 88% respondents used public transport, and 37% said it was to reduce their contribution towards air pollution.

The themes selected for the survey were overall environment, air quality, water quality, waste and waste management, climate change and forest/green cover. The survey was carried out in Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai between December 2012 and February 2013.

The sample size in Mumbai was 1,010 and the respondents were distributed across different age groups, occupation and education and income levels, said Ipsita Kumar, a research associate with TERI.

The survey showed that around 42% respondents felt that the ground water availability has worsened over the last five years, while 39% felt that there has been improvement in the drinking water quality and availability. And 46% respondents felt there has been an improvement in waste and waste management in the same period.

Narinder Nayar, chairman, MumbaiFirst, an NGO which closely works with the state, said, “Climate change has severe implications on food, health, water support and national agro system. The city hasn’t built an open space in the last seven to eight years. We need to face the implications of global climate change and begin to cope with its consequences.”

Survey suggestions

75% suggested conversion of polluting industries to environment-friendly units, while 67% suggested the imposition of congestion and other taxes to discourage private vehicles

54% suggested declaration of protected areas, reclamation of wasteland for parks, implementation of public-private partnership as the strategy for improving the green cover in city.