Even as the recent deluge turned most of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) into a wetland, a community-led campaign in Vasai, India, (once home to actual wetlands) has been steadily working to revive a centuries-old system of water bodies in a bid to improve the region's ecological health, restore its biodiversity and, most crucially, mitigate floods. These freshwater ponds, or bavkhals, numbered over 500 in December 2024; locals suggest there are more to be mapped. “Extensive and unplanned construction in the last few decades has greatly compromised the area's sponge-like quality," observes Sachin Marti. His campaign to conserve bavkhals—first, as a member of the nonprofit Yuva Vikas Sanstha, and now as Senior Programme Manager, Water Resource Development at the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) —attempted to reverse some of the damage. Marti and fellow campaigners have raised awareness through outreach in local organisations and the media.