Controlling flooding
In its editorial recently The Freeman says that since flooding can no longer be avoided in Cebu City one option left is to construct a storm drainage system. This, along with such measures as preventing encroachment on waterways, dredging the esteros, deepening the roadside canals, and effectively controlling garbage disposal, may not prevent flooding but at least minimizes if not lessens its duration.
Actually, flood waters in this city have been observed to flow out into the sea an hour or less after a heavy downpour. The reason is that the land areas from the uptown to downtown sections are on downward incline. One can notice this if he drives from the frontage of the Capitol building to Magallanes street or from the base of Lahug hills down through Gorordo avenue, Echaves and Sikatuna streets and into Parian square, then straight to a portion of Magallanes passageway.
In the lowland portion of the city, however, particularly in certain parts of Colon and Magallanes streets and in the spread surrounding the mall near the north reclamation area, flood waters tend to eddy much longer. The problem here could be lack of culverts big enough to absorb excessive rainfall. So one solution is to build such contraptions along the streets in this part of the city. Another, as insinuated by The Freeman editorial, is to dredge and clear esteros from encroachments to ensure the free flow of flood waters.
Requiring big buildings to have built-in rain catchments is a step in the right direction. There is an ordinance on this, number 1711 enacted in 1998. But like other ordinances enforcement is lax. In fact, the Legislative building of the City Hall has no such built-in structure. What about other high-rise edifices constructed and under construction at present-are these required to have rain catching cisterns? And what about residential houses in subdivisions-each of these ought to have a facility to impound rain water and store it for various applications. In fact, every household in the city should be encouraged to provide itself with a water tank or just simple containers for this purpose. If this is done water conservation can be intensified and the threat of water shortage can be reduced. What more, savings can be had in terms of lower water bills.
Every barangay also especially in the upland sections of the city, ought to be required, if not motivated through some kind of incentives such as tax rebates to provide itself with a big water impounding pond or dugout where rain water can be stored for use by the people. One drawback, however, could be that these water storages can be the breeding places of dengue-carrying mosquitos. To prevent this, fresh water fish may be raised in these water-holes thus contributing to the food production project of these grassroot LGU's. Or these reservoirs can be made air- tight to prevent the entry of mosquitos and other insects. If equipped with a pump water can be extracted for use by the community.
Obviously, these are short-term strategies to counteract the problem of flooding. The long term solution is of course to reforest upland Cebu City. Several decades ago the hillside backdrop of the city was green with trees. But with the coming of mountain-side housing projects coupled with the conversion of those areas into vegetable or flower farms, only the stumps of primordial trees remain. The magic phrase of course is tree planting. That's why every now and then government agencies go up in groups to plant trees in these areas. But aside from the photo coverage of these activities nothing happened afterwards, and the hillsides have remained bald. Now we are paying the price in terms of rampaging water.
Flooding, flooding is here to stay, it seems. But no matter what it costs, we should not give up. If we cannot prevent it, we can at least lessen its disastrous consequences.
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