The rains over the last month exposed once again the city's inability to cope with any reasonable amount of rainfall. As always, the city's Corporation and its allied organi­sations failed to anticipate the rains and plan in advance, as a result of which, the city came to a complete standstill and several areas remained inundated a full ten-days after the rains stopped. The clear failures and the reasons for the flooding were not too difficult to identify.

1. Lack of planning in the layout of new areas: The newer developments in the city ­really bore the brunt of the flooding. This is because most of these layouts have literally mushroomed without any planning for proper drainage. Some of these developments have also been on the dry beds of lakes which, during the rains, automatically flood, resulting in the stagnation of water.

2. Desilting of water bodies: Despite several promises, the PWD has not taken up desilting of the reservoirs and tanks in and around the city. These could easily be done every year when the water levels are low or in the years when the tanks have completely dried up. Over the years, the beds of these tanks have risen thanks to the deposit of silt. As a result, the tanks have become shallow, resulting in less storage capacity and a greater tendency to flood the surrounding areas.

3. Cleaning of stormwater drains: This activity witnesses regular announcements regarding its commencement with much ­fanfare. But what is done is ­obviously very little or it is begun very close to the monsoon, as a result of which not much work is done before the rains set in. It is surprising that after so many years, the authorities have not woken up to what is a seasonal feature.

4. Educating the public on usage of plastic: The city uses and disposes an enormous amount of plastic and very often huge number of carrybags make their way down the drains where they simply block the channels. The water that overflows floods the neighbouring areas till an enterprising conservancy worker gets down to removing the offending objects. It is high time the Corporation begins a campaign to educate the public on how plastic waste is to be dealt with.

5. Freeing the canals and waterways: For over a hundred years, all three major waterways of the city, the Adyar, the Cooum and the Buck­ing­ham Canal, have fulfilled the role of storm­water drains. They have also been useful when storage reservoirs have filled up, necessitating discharge of surplus waters. But over the years, the banks of these rivers have been encroached upon and, worse, structures such as the MRTS have come up right in their middle, thereby preventing any effective drainage system. This has resulted in several areas being prone to floods.

6. Regulations on road-laying: Over the years, indiscriminate road-laying with no thought being given to maintaining the same road height has caused several drains to become ineffective. In addition, properties that adjoin such roads have no choice but to raise their plinth levels. With the rapid concre­tisation of gardens in most properties, the water automatically flows on to the road adding to the flooding that is caused by drains overflowing. The Corporation needs to lay down the
law when it comes to laying roads and also impose ­regulations on the limits up to which plinths can be raised.

There are obviously very many other omissions and slippages which add to waterlogging of the city. It is only if these are attended to can we hope for a flood-free city.