Efforts caught in trap
Managing waterlogging in capital
With Dhakas streets were waterlogged with resultant traffic congestion for the second day yesterday after overnight rain, experts blame absence of co-ordination among the governments concerned offices for the chronic waterlogging problem in the capital.
On Tuesday, 64mm of rainfall left most of the capital floating on water and causing long tailbacks on the streets and many parts in the city remain water logged yesterday also.
The city planners opined that the reason behind water logging in the capital is because of the absence of co-ordination among the governments concerned offices, resulting in the immense sufferings of the city dwellers.
The city experts also blamed the unplanned urbanization for such problems which saw no solution over the last 15 years.
Architecture Mobasher Hossain pointed out two reasons behind the water logging in the city first, the water is not passing through the drainage system and second the extraction of water by deep tube wells.
Earlier we needed 40 per cent drainage system but now we need 100 per cent drainage system to relieve the city dwellers from water logging cause simply by drizzling, he added.
He further said the marshy lands and canals are vanishing, endangering the natural existence.
Architecture Iqbal Habib said, The entire drainage system of the capital has been clogged. When the arteries connected to the heart are blocked, a person may come under heart attack. The same situation has been cropped up in the drainage system. It is not properly connected with the river to carry the water during rain.
The rain exposed the long-neglected drainage system. Officials of the two Dhaka city corporations said surface drains were opened to let the rainwater pass. Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) sources said they used extra pumps to flush out the rainwater through the capitals storm drainage system on Tuesday.
But no body talked about the citys elaborate system of canals laid 400 years ago by the Mughals on a swamp, girdled by the rivers Buriganga, Shitalakhya,Turag, Balu and the Tongi Khal, which acted as a natural drainage system carrying the rainwater through 66 canals.
But 400 years later, WASA sources say only 22 canals now survive. But in reality most of them are unable to carry the capitals rainwater, as they have been encroached upon and become dumping grounds for garbage.
The storm sewerage network of DWASA can carry only 10mm of rainwater in an hour. But the met office recorded 64mm of rainfall in 24 hours until 6:00am yesterday, of which 42mm was recorded in an-hour-and-half between 11:00am and 12-30pm on Tuesday that flooded most of the capital.
The question is why. The answer is simple. Most of the surface drains and DWASA storm sewerage remains clogged with plastic shopping bags, including nylon net bags, which are dumped indiscriminately along with garbage into the drains.
Meanwhile, seizing the opportunity, rickshaw peddlers and auto-rickshaws fleeced passengers, as the few buses and other modes of transport were stuck in the morning rush hour.
Even green grocers in the citys kitchen markets raised prices, blaming it on the rain. Green chillies were being sold between Tk. 180 and Tk. 200 per kg.
However, visiting the waterlogged area of Shantinagar, which went under water after the overnight rain coupled with the morning showers, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokan said: We have taken up a plan to free the city of water logging. The detailed project plan will be sent to the authorities soon.
The streets around the family home of the mayor in Najirabazar went under water after two days of rain.
The rains yesterday also caused water logging in nearby Lalbagh, Hazaribagh and parts of Dhanmondi and Green Road, which faced the same menace on Tuesday.
Meteorologists forecast that rain would gather strength on Friday and continue till Tuesday. It would be due to an active monsoon spurred by formation of convective clouds over the Bay of Bengal.
The met office suggested that local cautionary signal number three be hoisted at the maritime ports of Chittagong, Mongla, Coxs Bazar and Paira as the sea has become rough with squally winds blowing over it.
