Flooding prevention in the Philippines
by using a one-time installation and modern sustainable storm-water management system
On the 22nd September the annual DPWH Research Symposium took place at the GT Toyota Asian Cultural Center, UP Diliman, Quezon City. This year’s event was called „2016 Research Symposi- um: providing infrastructure that improves quality, traffic and road safety“. It was spearheaded by DPWH Bureau of Research and Standards (DPWH-BRS). The symposium was graced by Mr. Raul Asis, DPWH Undersecretary and Ms. Judy Sese, DPWH-BRS Director. Over 200 enthusiasts in the field of engineering and research attended the said event. Mr. Sajid Anonuevo, CEO of Krah Pipes Manila, Inc. , also held a presentation at the event. His topic was how to stop flooding in the Philippines.
Mr. Sajid Anonuevo at the DPWH-event
During the first week of July 2016 yet another unusual 3-hour heavy rain surged in the main land of Metro Cebu , which caused severe flooding, “gridlock” traffic and left thousands of civilians stranded on all its major roads. The rain started with a weird, unusually loud thunder and lightning, described as heaviest so far since the state weather bureau announced the start of La Niña.
Flooding in Cebu
This is not only evident to Cebu but mainly to most parts of the country and its major cities, since one of the most flood-prone countries in the world is the Philippines. There have been over 60 reported major floods in the country in the last ten years. These natural disasters affected nearly 14 million people and about 700 lives were taken. In addition, the recorded damages were estimated to be worth over $400 million.
Flooding in Cebu
The economic center of the Philippines, Metropolitan Manila, is considered to be the most vulnerable city in terms of flooding. Due to its geographical location, low elevations, fast growing infrastructure and high density population, Metro Manila has a more significant exposure to flooding impacts than most other parts of the Philippines. Due to the rapid urbanization; newly constructed reclamation sites surrounding the metro; nearby forestlands in the watershed area that have been transformed into paddies, grasslands, fruit orchards or dry fields, villages, residential subdivisions and extensive pig farms; flooding became prevalent even in relatively high places in Quezon City, Makati, Manila, Paranaque, Muntinlupa, Pasig, and San Juan today mainly due to substandard housing infrastructure problem.
This inevitable force of nature accompanied by poor disaster control measures actually results to health and safety hazards to civilians, stimulates contagious diseases, destroys wild animal reserves, destroys livelihood to the masses, creates infra- structure damages, and causes deaths. Apparently, most of the government solutions to flooding like the additional and large drai- nage systems and catch basins are all effective, but for a limited time only. In addition to this fact, due to the material of most sewers and drainage systems we have in the country; which are mostly concrete pipes with high risk in handling, maintenance cost and have a long period of installation; the government is spending more than the actual amount needed to establish these mitigating systems. What this storm water management plan needs, is a complete system of large diameter pipes with a one-time and no-claim-installation to minimize- and moreover eliminate- the additional problems caused by implementing these improvements whose primary goal is to reduce the effects of flooding and flooding itself.
Storm water tank installation
With the proven worldwide experience of Krah in large diameter HDPE pipes, where technical approaches are possible; with reasonable expenses for the authorities; small, easy and fast construction; life-time warranty with zero claims; and readily available technology and products in the Philippines, it aims to be a complete solution to help reducing the alarming effects of flooding in the country.
As Krah Pipes Manila, Inc. steps in our native land, it aspires to provide a complete system for storm water management, starting from the design calculation until its installation. This service shall include: avoiding sealed surfaces; soak away application; decentralized storm-water retention tank system with large storage capacity and low maintenance cost; very compact and easy to install water absorbing wells; and a long time tight drainage system with no in- and exfiltration, no root penetration and no pipe blocking system.
Storm water tank being placed in trench
The system can also provide larger pipes ranging from 400mm to 4000mm with all available fittings and manholes for drainage and sewerage with self- cleaning properties and resistance against high intensity earthquakes with available simulated testing results. It supports environmental friendly water management in all aspects as the system divides the sewage from the drainage.
The system also avoids reflow/backflow to the system coming from the sea-side.
Krah Pipes Manila, Inc. serves to provide the complete solution to help the country and its po- pulation. The manufacturing process will be done in the country and all the parts will be produced in here, as well, which makes it a more cost effective choice. We will give assistance to the local enginee- rs during the design stage up to the building process to ensure a one-time and sustainable system that will benefit the authorities and the masses for a long period of time.
In the next issue of our “ImProfil” there will be a detailed report about the function and building of a storage system, including the technical design.