Improved drainage capacity lessens city’s flooding woes

Jan 04, 2018 News

but deliberate measures needed to safeguard integrity

An example of a pavement that could aid the drainage situation.

Even in the face of intense rainfall over recent weeks, the capital city [Georgetown] is still benefiting from drainage works undertaken just about a year ago. This has translated to little or no flooding in the city, which was the expected fate once upon a time.

But the existing drainage resilience of the city could be easily undermined if deliberate measures are not consistently put in place.

This is according to City Engineer attached to the Mayor and City Councillors of Georgetown [M&CC], Mr. Colvern Venture.

The drainage works from which the city currently benefits represent a strategic collaboration between the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown [M&CC] to improve the drainage integrity in some sections.

Other sections benefited from a tripartite arrangement which saw the Ministries of Infrastructure, Agriculture and Communities collaborating. From that arrangement a team, including representatives from the M&CC, was created, and was tasked with preparing a document for the approval of some $150 million to facilitate the thorough cleaning of the city. This effort was complemented by the efforts of private citizens and business owners who helped clear garbage and overgrowth within sections of the city.

It was through these deliberate measures, Venture said, that a transformation of the city was realised. “This has really helped with the reduction of flooding situations in the city,” said Venture.

Prior to the APNU+AFC Government’s ascension to office in 2015, the city was labeled by some as the ‘Garbage City’ as little to nothing was being done to address a glaring garbage problem which stemmed mainly from the wanton disposal of waste in and around the city. Some of this waste ended up in canals and other waterways in the city, thereby affecting the drainage process.

This state of affairs not only cast a negative light on Georgetown, which was years before dubbed the ‘Garden City,’ but for those who traversed within its boundaries on a daily basis, there was also a potential health risk.

But along with the efforts to restore the capital city, came a change of attitude among many citizens.

“We saw some significant reduction in the indiscriminate way in which people disposed of their refuse,” Venture reflected. But he is concerned that the distasteful practice, “is slowly creeping up back in our society…we are finding that there are some persons who are again disposing of their garbage in an indiscriminate manner.”

For this reason, Venture has been urging that citizens desist from indulging in such practices. Although this publication was not furnished with actual figures, an official within the Public Relations Department of the M&CC insisted yesterday that a number of persons were placed before the court during the past year for littering.

However, this measure has not been nearly enough to prevent the act altogether. Venture is appealing to members of the public to “do the right thing and manage your garbage in the proper way.”

But the city continues to be faced with other challenges that have the potential of affecting its drainage capabilities. This, according to Venture, includes the fact that some individuals have undertaken measures that have essentially helped to compromise the integrity of the city’s drainage system.

“Some persons have been and continue to use rigid pavement in terms of concreting their yards and parapets that, in itself, contributes to flooding. The reason for saying that, is whenever you seal off those areas with concrete, the drains have to take off that additional water from the land that could have been filtered down into the soil…When you seal the land in your premises and then you seal those on the parapet that results in more pressure on the street drains to take off the water in a certain time…and added to this, our drains were not designed for that capacity,” Venture noted.

In fact, he disclosed that the city was designed to take off two and a half inches of rainfall within a 24-hour period. But that capacity has long diminished. This has been, not only because persons, over time, have compromised the drainage network, but because of heavy siltation in some areas.

Essentially, Venture noted, while some persons attempt to enhance their environment by paving their yards and the parapets, it could instead turn out to be a threat to the drainage system. But since the M&CC is not opposed to developments of this nature, Venture noted that persons are instead encouraged to utilize semi-rigid materials instead of concrete. This, he explained, means that “you can use material that allows vegetation growth and filtration but yet still allow vehicles to park without having a messy parapet.”

When asked about measures to sensitise the public about the use of semi-rigid materials, Venture said, “we would have done several PR [Public Relations] programmes on television.” In fact, he disclosed that since persons cannot pave outside of their property boundary without permission from the M&CC, one of the measures mandated for approval is that person’s must adhere to the use of semi-rigid materials.

“We have had challenges with persons going ahead and doing these works without seeking approval, and we have had problems with persons paving their parapets higher than the road and that is not the recommended design. The parapet must be lower than the road so that the water would be able to flow…if the parapet is higher that could mean that the water could lodge on the road instead, and create ponds and cause the roads to damage quickly,” Venture explained.

He noted that while there are some city residents who have employed the use of pipes to assist with the drainage of their environment, this too could also turn out to be a dilemma if the pipes are not cleaned regularly to ensure the free flow of water.

According to Venture, despite being limited by meagre resources, the City Engineer’s Department has been working valiantly. Chief among its limitations has been finances to execute some of the needed work in the city, Venture said.

“We are not getting the required finances to execute the works we have to do, in the way we want them to be done…and in an effective manner,” said Venture, as he pointed out “we are looking at our [2018] budget and we hope to find other streams of revenue that could help to boost our efforts.”

But all is not lost. According to the City Engineer, although two of the four pumps spread across the city to boost drainage efforts in the city are currently not operational, works are ongoing to ensure that before the end of this week all are in working order.

Currently drainage pumps are located at River View, Commerce Street, Lamaha Street and Kingston. Another four pumps that drain water into the Atlantic Ocean are situated at Kitty and Liliendaal, and these are all operational, helping to drain the city during incessant rainfall, Venture assured.

Added to this, Venture said that persons from within the City Engineer’s Department are tasked with visiting various key sites around the city on a daily basis to ensure that there are no blockages to prevent excess water from reaching the outfalls.