Floods and the city

Though the deluge mentioned in the Bible may be argued as allegorical, the flooding that occurs in Metro Manila streets after a downpour is definitely not. Floods are simply something Metro residents have long endured and accepted as part of the deal–and along with it, hellish traffic jams as well. Last Friday’s heavy downpour and resulting flood – and thus gridlock – is a recent nightmarish example.

And there’s no solution in sight either, at least none anytime soon. Late last year, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority announced the results of a study it has conducted.

The study is calling for a new master plan to rehabilitate the Metro’s drainage system to address the metropolis’ flooding woes. Based on the study, the majority of drainage mains and esteros in the city are not the very least capable of handling the volume of water during heavy rains. A number of reasons were identified, but the most notable is the erroneous estimate of population growth used by the engineers of the drainage plan for Metro Manila. The plan was first drafted in 1952, where there wasn’t even a "Metro Manila" to speak of. Needless to say, the MMDA asserts the 50-year old drainage plan is now obsolete.

In the said plan, the engineers failed to anticipate not only rapid rise in the Metro’s population, but also the increase in rainfall over the next decades due to changes in the environment.

The esteros play a major role in the city’s drainage system, the study said, and its condition must always be at its best in order for it to serve its purpose of functioning as primary drainage channels and water detention ponds. How to implement the structural reforms necessary was a major concern cited in the study.

However, it is apparently the Department of Public Works and Highways that is tasked to undertake the maintenance and construction workloads of flood control projects in Metro Manila. Recently though, the MMDA is reportedly insisting on taking over the chores from the DPWH, a move skeptics say is not altogether sound.

For one, it is the DPWH that has the technical capability, the necessary heavy construction equipment and the engineering know-how to get this messy job done. That is, however, assuming that it can be done at all.

Another is that the MMDA is already burdened with the Metro’s collection and disposal of gazillions of tons of garbage generated daily, the bulk of which are made up of all the sundry politicians’ campaign posters and promises discarded after Monday’s polls. Add to that the problem of authorities still not having found a suitable venue to dump all these rubbish, politician’s promises included.

To top it all off, the MMDA is also tasked with the traffic management of the 12 cities and four towns that make up this sorry place we call Metro Manila. Which is quite a tall order, because try telling bus, jeepney and FX drivers and passengers that there are designated stops for boarding and unboarding, that a red light means "stop", and tell drivers that the leftmost lane is the fast lane.

Clearly, it would be better if all the government agencies concerned get their collective acts together and work toward solving Metro Manila’s flooding–and by extension–traffic woes. But that, too, is a tall order. As it is, the dove is still without a fresh olive leaf on its beak and Mount Ararat is still submerged. That’s all allegorical, of course.