Towards flood resiliency in South Ruimveldt

Dear Editor,

We must remedy the issue of flooding in South Ruimveldt. A cursory outline will be had here but collective effort is needed towards flood resiliency.

“Georgetown Water and Sewage and Master Plan’ of 1994 is instructive, “The City of Georgetown is drained by an interconnected network of pump and gravity systems. The network of open channels was originally developed to irrigate and drain the sugar plantations which occupied the land on which Georgetown now stands.”

Outlining challenges to the drainage system it reads, “With urbanisation of the area, over the years, the paving of previously pervious surfaces resulted in increased quantities of runoff. In an effort to alleviate flooding the function of the redundant irrigation canals was converted to that of drainage.”

We appreciate as well that infilling of canals also led to the current situation: West Ruimveldt Canal (1972), Merriman’s Promenade (1958); Church Street Canal (1959) are just instances where we have lost tremendous reservoir capacity.

A Guyana Review article, ‘Global Climate Change: Challenges for Guyana’ posed the question, “…should we not re-examine the drainage systems that were operational before facilities like the East Street and Sussex Street canals were filled? Certainly, restoring the drainage system to its optimal level should be an immediate priority for the government.” (2006)

As residents we can appreciate, as well, excess water being on the land through circumstances beyond our control like the recent heavy rains and high tide simultaneously, yet we have an expectation with the passage of time that its effects will be mitigated as soon as circumstances change. Theory and practice differ.

Another article in the Guyana Review, “Flooding: A way of life?” made the point of the economic impact of floods. (2005)

It is a point that would later be amplified by Dr Balfour Spence at a lecture in 2013 at the University of Guyana, ‘Private Sector Engagement: An Imperative for Disaster Risk Management in Guyana’. Dr Spence posited, “The 1997 drought affected in excess of 660,000 Guyanese; the flood in 2005 impacted 30,000 persons.”

Professor Spence opined that, “Economically, they have set back the economy. The 2005 floods resulted in damages close to half a billion US dollars which is about 60 per cent of Guyana’s GDP for the previous year. Impacts like these are not sustainable since progress made in a year can be set back in a few hours.”

As such, it was welcomed news when recently the Dutch Risk Reduction (DDR) Team arrived, tasked with assisting with the development of a new pilot system and design model to improve the drainage and irrigation system in the city of Georgetown, and from whose final report, ‘Analysis of Drainage System in Georgetown, Guyana’ (2016), we can significantly benefit.

We seem closer to mitigating floods and their effects from South Ruimveldt since the DRR Team’s work focused primarily on South Ruimveldt as a catchment area.

According to the Team’s Final Report, “Using the input from the local drainage system analysis, measured geometric data and simplified boundary conditions a full model of the South-Ruimveldt catchment was developed. This model can be used to assess and compare the effect of different interventions.”

Among other things the Report noted that currently operation of the drainage system is based on experience while Government wants to apply knowledge-based decisions on the drainage system.

The report stated that the South-Ruimveldt and Liliendaal channel are connected to each other by a siphon at Lamaha Street. However, the siphon does not function well and it is unclear what the interaction is between the two catchment areas. Discharge has been observed in both directions in along large parts of the South-Ruimveldt channel. Along the South-Ruimveldt areas several inflow points do not function anymore during high water levels in the primary channels because water levels on both side of the inflow point are equal.

As such, an equally welcoming development is Cabinet’s decision to create an inter-agency task force to manage and improve the drainage in Georgetown, comprised of City Hall; the Ministries of Agriculture, Public Infrastructure and Communities – whose subject Minister Ronald Bulkan leads the Task Force; and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority.

Sincerely,

Sherod Avery Duncan,

LLB, JP

Deputy Mayor

Municipality of

Georgetown