it’s bad enough that the state of our environment is so degraded that an hour or even less of heavy rain brings flash floods and gates-of-hell kind of traffic; what’s worse is hearing the same old crap from MMDA officials who blame it on garbage- and informalsettler-clogged waterways as though they had just found out and are now doing all they can.
as for the palace, abigail valte claims that there are flood control projects going on and that there is a master flood control plan “in various stages.” more she could, would, not say. i suppose the binay-roxas project to relocate informal settlers from along riverbanks and straddling esteros and canals is part of that master plan. if so, it’s obviously at a very early stage, and we see no signs that the effort can, will, be sustained given the lack of relocation sites.
unless, of course, vp & housing czar binay and DILG sec roxas, political rivals who are expected to slug it out for the presidency in 2016, try to outdo each other in the next three years. then we just might see results. hope springs eternal.
“Aquino axed key flood-control project in 2010” by Rigoberto Tiglao http://www.manilatimes.net/aquino-axed-key-flood-control-project/10363/
Kung yung lugar kung saan nagpakita si Mama Mary ay binaha eh pwede pa ba tayong umasa na hindi babahain ang gates of hell? :-)
Eto nga pala ang link dun sa comment ko.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/429029/lourdes-closed-200-evacuated-after-flash-floods
Kung sabagay iba ang dahilan kung bakit binaha ang Lourdes…pinasa kasi sa France ang same-sex marriage law :-D
http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/10318-learning-to-breathe-underwater
Hi Angela,
reminds me of this magnificent seven solution (Yul Brynner must be shaking in his boots) to punch holes in our backyards until we hit the water table, and voila, problem solved!
Flood is a problem that cannot be solved by politics. It is an engineering problem that requires an engineering solution. Like I mentioned in an another online forum with regards to what causes flood and the potential solutions, the simplistic answer (i.e. idiot-friendly) can be first described by the following hydrologic process:
1.) Precipitation (rainfall intensity) exceeds the rate of absorption of natural ground and the vegetation cover (infriltration) and the environments’ capacity to evaporate (evapo-transpiration) its ambient water/moisture thus producing excess rainwater in the surface (surface run-off)
2.) Due to natural terrain (topography), surface run-off and infiltrating water (groundwater) will flow to the lowest portion either to the sea/ocean or basins (lakes/ponds/). The transportation mechanism will be the following:
2a.) For surface run-off, by drainage (gravity flow) through natural conduits and waterways (i.e. rivers and its tributaries)
2b.) For groundwater, by percolation to the aquifer/aquitard/aquifuge.
3.) Flood occurs when either or in any combination of the following conditions are satisfied:
3a.) The intensity of rainfall exceeds the capacity of natural or catchment basins (eg.lakes, flood plain, dams / reservoirs) to contain the volume thus the overflow of surface run-off.
3b.) The intensity of rainfall exceeds the rate of infiltration/percolation to the ground, and it also exceeds the capacity of the aquifer/aquitard/aquifuge to store water, thus surface run-off.
3c.) The rate of flow of surface run-off to natural conduits exceeds the capacity of the waterways to discharge/drain to the basins/lakes or open sea/oceans.
3d.) Extreme change in weather patterns such as strong storm surges, and increasing mean sea level.
The parameters therefore for flood to occur are:
A.) Capacity to contain surface run-off
Factors:
-Insufficient reservoirs
-Lack of retention ponds/lakes
B.) Capacity to store surface run-off
Factors:
-Insufficient water sheds and vegetative cover (deforestation, indiscriminate land conversion, etc.)
-Surface run-off not percolating to the ground aquifer/aquitard/aquifuge
-Ingress of saline water to the groundwater aquifer/aquitard/aquifuge due to grounwater drawdown or pumping from development areas (eg. residential subdivision using groundwater pumps)
C.) Capacity to discharge surface run-off
Factors:
-Inefficient sewer/stormwater network and system
-Diminishing natural waterways due to economic development (eg. riverside development, informal settlers)
-Clogged waterways either by garbage or siltation
D.) Climate Change
Factors:
– Change in weather patterns (extended and/or wetter rainy season,extended and/or drier/hotter summers)
– Rising sea levels
– etc.
=================================
S O L U T I O N
Having defined the parameters for flood to occur, the structural solution therefore should address each or in any combination of the following the parameters.
A.) Capacity to contain Surface Run-off
– Typical solutions are as follows:
a.1) Provision for dams and reservoirs
a.2) Provision for retention ponds & artificial lakes
B.) Capacity to store
-Typical solutions are as follows:
b.1) Watersheds and vegetative cover
b.2) Artificial Recharging wells
b.3) Swales
C.) Capacity to discharge
-Typical solutions are as follows:
c.1) separate network for each of the stormwater, residential sewer and industrial sewer lines.
c.2) increasing waterways capacity either, or in any combination of the following: dredging the river bed, widening the waterways, raising the embankment by providing dikes or levees.
c.3) reduce the potential of siltation and scouring either or in any combination of the following: bioswales along embankment, baffle chutes to reduce velocity,riprap/gabions/rock armours along embankment,etc.
c.4) diversion for other purposes such as irrigation, power generation, water supply, transportation, etc.
D.) Climate Change
– Typical solutions include:
d.1) Scenario Planning
d.2) Improved forecasting techniques
d.3) Infrastructure adaptation
The above solutions will be part of a comprehensive water management framework in a regional or national scale and should be incorporated in the land use zonation planning,natural hazard & disaster risk mitigation plan, infrastructure development plan, and economic development plan of the region concerned.
yes, that about covers it. teka, idagdag na natin ang waste management on the side. big big job. and not necessarily removed from politics. would make quite a presidential platform that electorate can relate to…
If Mar Roxas can marshall the DLG to have the political will with local MM mayors to help solve this perennial problem, it will really be a political dividend for him come 2016 presidential election