Evaluating drainage systems

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Most Philippine cities, Bacolod included, are built on top of drainage-sewerage systems that were designed more than half a century ago, when city planners never would have imagined that super storms would become the norm rather than the exception. In spite of the steady growth in the economy and population of these booming cities, most of these outdated drainage and sewerage systems have been ignored and therefore can no longer efficiently serve their purpose even under regular use. This almost ensures that cities who are unfortunate enough to be in the path of typhoons similar to “Frank” and “Ondoy”, whose intensity in terms of rainfall and wind speed have been steadily increasing over the past decade, will inevitably experience some sort of flooding.

Metro Manila 's experience with “Ondoy” showed us the kind of damage these storms can wreak upon a city. Hundreds of lives have been lost and billions of pesos will be needed to rebuild the properties and areas that have been inundated with floodwaters that refuse to subside a full week after the storm has passed. If cities like Bacolod do not want to be the next victims of nature's fury, then an honest reevaluation of the city's drainage and sewerage systems, which the city's website indicate has not been updated since 1955, has to be carried out as soon as possible.

If found wanting, these critical systems will have to be improved as soon as possible because inaction could lead to more unwanted deaths or to millions of pesos worth of public and private properties being washed away by floods similar to the ones that caught Metro Manila and Iloilo by surprise. If the city's drainage and sewerage systems are to be upgraded, the engineers responsible will have to ensure that the job is done right by designing the system to such that city drains and sewers are kept separate, to future-proof it so it can handle the ever increasing demands of a growing city, as well as ensure that it can handle the extreme weather conditions that have characterized the storms in the now-volatile climate of this planet.*