OBLIQUE OBSERVATIONS
By Atty. Gilberto Lauengco, J.D.
It has been said that natural disasters often expose many hidden problems. During earthquakes, old buildings with structural degradation and even new buildings that were poorly designed are often the first to fall. Typhoons and strong storms cause billboards, poles, and even trees to fall. In the case of torrential rains, the perennial problem of flooded areas becomes an annual reminder of many problems unseen and unsolved.
When floods occur, people often point to flood control mechanisms as the culprit. Sadly, the annual flood has many causes. Although faulty or poorly designed flood control may at times be one of the problems, floods, especially in many areas, are caused by complex and often interwoven factors.
First, faulty zoning or planning by the private developers and the local government involved. There are many areas, which by their very nature, are flood-prone. Areas such as low-lying areas near rivers, floodplains or catch basins, and areas that are ideal for farming due to natural irrigation features are places that should not be developed, especially for residential areas. When I used to work for a city government, there was an area in the said city which was often the scene of waist-deep or worse floodwaters every monsoon season. No matter what type of flood control project or drainage was installed, there would always be flood either in that area or an adjacent area. Apparently, the said area was a floodplain. Poor planning and foresight had doomed the area to perpetual flooding.
Second, even in non-flood prone areas, building and residential densification and encroachment of new concrete surfaces will always increase the possibility of flood because it would stretch the limits of drainage, natural or man-made. This is the price of development. There are, however, infrastructural methods of mitigating the problem. The Bonifacio Global City has a well-designed stormwater reservoir underneath Burgos Circle. This structure, along with a sustainable urban drainage system, has allowed manageable flood peaks due to storms. This requires urban planning and public private cooperation and also costs a lot.
Lastly, the presence of trash and urban waste in the metro area has of late reduced the efficiency of pumping station and clogged the drainage and waterways. Scenes of floating garbage and tons of waste dredged from the clogged drainage systems were commonplace across the metropolis. In Pasay City, the MMDA found old sofas, furniture, broken appliances rubber tires, and assorted plastic products in the pumping system. Flood pumping alone cannot solve the flood problem. Although flood pumping is an integral part of flood mitigation, intense and long rainfall coupled with clogged drainage and environmental features and terrain can overwhelm the capacity of flood pumping facilities. Waste reduction and proper disposal can contribute greatly to other flood control measures.
The law mandates that each person and corporation must do its part to dispose of waste properly. A whole-of-nation approach is clearly needed to solve this waste problem and, in turn, mitigate the problems of flooding. On the other hand, perhaps it is time to hold developers and local government zoning officials who insist on setting up development on areas that are clearly flood-prone.
