Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 23, 2014 News
By Kiana Wilburg
Plaguing our country for several years are the side-effects of an appallingly dysfunctional drainage system. And celebrated Engineer, Mr. Philip Allsopp, has given his take on what he believes to be the answer to this most bothersome problem.
Allsopp explained that the main reason is “poorly managed drains that are without a proper gravity gradient.”
He said that the drains are the veins of the country’s drainage and irrigation system and only focusing on constructing canals and importing pumps represents a blatant disregard for the real problem.
Allsopp who was attached to the US Department of Public Works for two years during the late 1960s said, “Before I get into the details of my solution, the average person must be informed of certain basic things. Now, the city of Georgetown or our coast rather, is at approximately the same level with the main sea plane. When the city is flooded, the drains are designed to flow into the canals which are controlled by sluices that close when there is high tide. The canal leads out to a river or sea. The canals are supposed to have a certain depth or capacity to hold the water that it collects until the tide goes down. If the tide does not go down and the water starts to infringe upon the lands then in that emergency case, we use the pumps.”
However, Allsopp asserts that while the aforementioned may sound like a smooth process and a simple one at that, it is complicated by the awful neglect of the very important facilties.
“The drains are very important. You can have all the canals and the pumps, but those aren’t the solutions if the drains remain clogged. One of the problems is that the drains are not constructed properly and they are full of silt. You find that if the drain is two feet deep, it is one feet of silt, and when it rains it obviously can’t drain properly.”
The Former Chief Works and Hydraulics Officer said that the current drains are badly silted up and this is the case with most of the drains in Georgetown.
“The answer is to ensure they are free of obstructions and that they are graded in such a way that they flow towards the outlets. The drains are supposed to be constructed in a slope-like direction. The gravity would allow for the water to flow properly into the drain outlets.”
Allsopp stressed that engineers need to ensure that the drains are not built horizontally, because such a structure only provides for the collection of water.
“The concrete drains are easier to manage with the gradients, but most of the drains along the city are earthly, and it is very easy for it to be disturbed, so to it requires that it be managed constantly. Improper management of the drains in term of the silting issue and the garbage filling up the drains is an additional stress as well. And this requires immediate attention.”
He emphasised that the solution to this issue is not focusing on importing pumps and creating deep canals, but rather the improvement of the ability of water to move by gravity—” that is the answer to our issue. Pumping would rarely become necessary if we employ that.”
He stressed as well the need for there to be a system in place where there can be an easy flow of water into the canals.
To reinforce his position, he reminded of the devastating 2005 floods which affected the East Coast of Demerara in particular. He reminded that pumping in that case was useless because the water simply couldn’t drain
into the clogged canals.
“The drainage system needs to be designed in such a way that the drains can collect the water without it overtopping. It should be able to collect a certain amount of water and hold onto it until the tide goes down. It is a matter of hydrology (the study of the movement of water on the earth’s surface). It is important to study the intensity of the rainfall and try to relate that to the drainage capacity of the land, and if that is done properly, we will have better drainage.”
Allsopp insisted that a drainage system should also be created in such a manner that it accommodates the rain intensity. He made reference to the importance of tide tables which can tell the time and height of the tide. This information he believes is instrumental to the depth at which the drain should be constructed.
“It is a scientific study and the construction of an efficient drainage system needs to take a lot of things into account.”
Mr. Allsopp is also of the firm belief that Guyana’s Hydrometeorological Service needs to make its presence felt more, and can play an integral role in not only the design of the drainage system, but also its effectiveness.
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