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Rhona Canoy .

Part 2

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SO… This disclaimer carries over from my previous column: I don’t claim to be an environmental engineer or a civil engineer, nor have I ever hoped or aimed to be. Any and all thoughts following are merely flights of fancy and semi-logical deductions on my part. If, by some fluke, there are thoughts here that are helpful, please feel free to use them without fear of copyright or patent infringement.

During Mayor Canoy’s administration, when USAID consultants were brought here to draw up an extensive 20-year plan, potential areas for flooding were already being identified. However, it was difficult to draw up a strategic plan for flood control since there was no way that anyone could predict which areas would become populated, especially by squatters (I’m sorry but there is no other appropriate term for these people). Who knew that the areas around Agora which were mostly fishponds and small salt flats, would become what it is now. It should also be taken into account that the drainage system grew as the city grew, randomly and with no specific plans or projections. Actually, pretty much as it is still being done by the current administration.

Ditches and drains would be dug, and drainage pipes would be buried according to where the flooding occurred, and no studies made as to the volume of water accumulated and needing to be carried away from the critical areas. No one could imagine the importance of Bitan-ag Creek. In those days of yore, all the water which cascaded down from the hillsides of upper Camaman-an and further reaches, found its way to that creek, which was the egress for water accumulated in the marshlands that is now the KetKai complex. Even without the added complication of garbage clogging up our drainage system, those areas were already identified as flood-prone.

With the advent of urbanization and “progress,” it as inevitable that the influx of migrants seeking a better life would lead to overcrowded areas where the waters used to run. Like I said, it is always difficult to predict which areas would be settled by the landless, but it is easy to assume that the marshlands which are more difficult to develop would fall prey. Infrastructure would necessitate filling up the low-lying areas without appropriate accommodations for drainage and we would all be left to suffer the consequences much later.

When USTP made the logical decision to elevate its campus by at least a meter to avoid inundation, no one took into consideration what that would do, since it sits on the banks of Bitan-ag, and it’s easy to assume that that is where the water would find its way. Hence the deep waters that result in that area each time there is heavy rain. The filling of properties behind that university complex, which face the Agora, further complicate the problem. All current developments there have also raised their land height by at least a meter to avoid suffering the floods.

Across the Maharlika Bridge, on the west side, Kauswagan is now suffering the same development complications. For the most part, that barangay used to be farmland and marshland. Even the empty lots behind the Polymedic Plaza hospital are still swampy for the most part. All other areas have been filled in and raised for development. The Toyota complex along the highway has been raised by more than a meter. The buildings on either side of it still sit on marshland with no other drainage except the big open sewers on either side of the highway which to date have no egress leaving the waters in it to sit around. Actually, silt has already filled in most of the drains, and no effort has been made to even just dig it out and carry all that filth and garbage to dispose of in the landfill areas of Pagalungan.

Our flood situation is obviously one of lack of proper study and planning. I find it puzzling that the developments in the higher elevations like upper Carmen suffer from flooding. It is almost impossible to traverse Masterson Highway during heavy rains in spite of the fact that it is a higher elevation than the rest of the city. Since water will always find its way, the fact that it can’t find the slopes so it can move downwards is funny to me. There are no proper drains to speak of, and I think people there just assume that the water would slide down the hill and create problems for Balulang and Macanhan. Wait… actually it does. But that the water gets stuck up there before it moves on to cause problems elsewhere should be studied. If they build a storm drain up there, where would that lead the water to go?

Let’s move to Iponan. Housing developments there have mushroomed. Which means that areas that used to be ricefields (yes, I was a kid when that was what Iponan was) are now filled in and cemented over. With no proper infrastructure to tell the water where to go. There are still a ricefields over there. Now turn your imaginary head to the right side of the highway. The area which is designated now as Barra, Opol was ricefield then too. Which is also crowded with housing developments and other things. Filled in and cemented over, leaving floodwaters with nowhere to go. Slide over to the bypass highway which cuts through what used to be ricefields and fishponds. All now being developed into whatever is going to get built over there. Where is all that displaced water going to go? From Bayabas (marshlands and fishponds) through Bulua (which also used to be marshland and fishponds) through Barra, Opol (also marshlands and fishponds) meeting up with the old highway at the boundary of Igpit.

Has anybody ever studied how much displaced water that amounts to? Actually, throughout our whole city, has anyone studied this before making what they believe to be the right decisions to solve our flooding problem? I doubt it. I’m running out of column inches so we’ll have to wait for Part 3 for me to wind this up. In the meantime, let’s hope it doesn’t rain a lot.

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