After the recent devastation caused by the storm water in the Guwahati City, there have been a lot of discussion in different forums including both the print and electronic media. It has been considered to be appropriate on my part to share my views with all the people interested on this issue particularly in view of my association with the construction industry for a period of more than 57 years.
There has been a controversy over the issue of the devastation caused by the flood in the city. This problem has been, by now a perennial one. The basic reason is obvious—-the existing drainage system is incapable of draining out the storm water getting into the city, which results in flooding for a certain period of time. The basic approach naturally consists in the proper identification of the catchment area providing the in-flow of storm water into the city during monsoon season. Apparently, the catchment area consists of two parts—–(a) Catchment area of the city itself and (b) Catchment area from the adjoining places of higher altitude. The city of Guwahati apparently has a drainage system in place for the draining out the storm water from its own catchment area. The major reason of flooding is accountable to the lack of draining capacity of the existing system of drains for the additional storm water getting into the city from the catchment area stated above under (b). The situation may be better appreciated with a reference to the google-map shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Google Map of Guwahati City with the Surroundings on South-eastern Sides
As evident from Figure 1, there exists apparently a huge catchment area falling in the state of Meghalaya (marked as ‘A’ in the figure) and also an area in the state of Assam (marked ‘B’ in the figure). These areas are obviously at an altitude apparently higher than that of Guwahati city (on an average). However, it is only the detailed topographical survey that will lead to a quantitative assessment of the whole situation. But the Figure 1 strongly suggests the fact that a huge catchment area of storm water getting drained into the area of Guwahati City is yielded by both the parts ‘A’ & ‘B’ marked in the figure. In both the parts, the extent of area involved will obviously be substantial. The area covered by the campus of University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) (located in the area marked ‘A’) will naturally be a nominal one as compared to the total catchment area of parts ‘A’ & ‘B’.
A permanent solution to the problem of flood in this city does require a two-pronged technical approach. The first one has to be the upgradation of existing drainage system with due regard to both the gradient and capacity in light of the volume of storm water to be yielded by the highest rainfall in its own catchment area. On the other hand, the second approach consists in arresting/reducing the volume of storm water flowing into Guwahati City from the catchment areas of parts ‘A’ and ‘B’. The feasible ways for the second approach may include the creation of a number of water bodies (reservoirs) along the feet of the adjoining hills, provision of storm water drains along the boundary for diverting the flow of storm water into the created water bodies or otherwise. The feasible locations for water bodies are those marked as ‘WB’ in Figure 1.
The technical approach, as briefly stated above truly does not require very high-level technologies. With the adoption of available technical knowledge, a solution to this problem of Guwahati City is feasible. Even the arrangement of fund required for a solution of the type of problem dealt with herein does not appear to be a difficult task. The projects of this type may even be admissible under some of the most appreciable flagship missions of Government of India, such as AMRUT 2.0, Smart City Mission etc. A project of this type will require the coordination between the states of Assam and Meghalaya.
The technical Institutes, NGOs such as Associations of Engineers. Consultancy Companies etc. may take up projects of preparation of detailed study report on this social problem.
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