Lessons KZN could take from developed countries on mitigating flood risks
Flooding in KwaZulu-Natal has become a major problem for the state and society to deal with, as daily rainfall grows more intense, but there are lessons to be learned from more developed countries like the US and China when it comes to water management.
Within a space of two years, around 500 people have died and more than R30 billion in damages has been caused in the province as a result of flooding.
While the size of the South African economy is no match against the likes of the US and China when it comes to government expenditure on infrastructure, there are methods that can be implemented to hopefully save lives and property in the future.
In 1972, the Clean Water Act was drafted in America to understand the best management practices (BMPs) when it comes to water pollution, according to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information.
But over the years, with the development of technology, the US used this to design and construct Low Impact Developments (LIDs) in urban areas to control the effects of flooding.
A LID is an area where vegetation grows and is able to absorb run-off water.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said that LID’s offer them a natural way to manage water.
“By implementing LID principles and practices, water can be managed in a way that reduces the impact of built areas and promotes the natural movement of water within an ecosystem or watershed,” the US EPA said on its website.
A LID refers to an environmentally-based development and industrial design approach to controlling the stormwater run-off.
“LIDs refer to GI, such as green roofs, roads, etc. Some urban areas in the US also constructed lots of green parks to reserve rain.
“GI can have less impact on the city while playing a role in preventing flooding risk,” according to a report on China's solutions to prevent flooding risks,” read a report on the National Centre for Biotechnology Information.
In China, the government has implemented a programme since 2015 called “Sponge City”, in which they have developed methods to avoid water-logging, and to recycle water, Xinhua reported.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping endorsed the concept of sponge cities in the wake of floods in Beijing that killed 79 people in July 2012.
More than 50,000 people had to be evacuated while more than 8,000 homes were destroyed in the flash flood.
Chinese provinces are among the hardest hit in the world, next to Vietnam and Bangladesh, when it comes to flooding.
A Sponge City works along the same lines as a LID, in that authorities tried to build as many natural features as possible to preserve rain water and reuse it constructively.
A Sponge City is made to be as soft as possible for it to absorb the most amount of water during a flood.
A good example of this can be found in Qian'an City of north China's Hebei Province, an urban area prone to flooding, and where the Sponge City pilot programme was rolled out.
Yu Kongjian, a vocal advocate of the Sponge City project, told North Carolina Public Radio that the concept is equivalent to playing tai chi with nature, instead of boxing with it.
Yu Kongjian’s philosophy on sponge cities revolves around removing concrete and replacing it with grass, reeds and trees, which allow water to drain faster instead of pooling up.
IOL