The Failure Of The Manggahan Floodway
Whichever way it’s read the description of the 10-kilometer long Mangahan Floodway impresses:
The Manggahan Floodway is an artificially constructed waterway in Metro Manila, the Philippines. The floodway was built in 1986 [1] in order to reduce the flooding along the Pasig River during the rainy season, by diverting the peak water flows of the Marikina River to the Laguna de Bay which serves as a temporary reservoir.[2] In case the water level on the lake is higher than the Marikina River, the floodway can also reverse the flow.
By design, the Manggahan Floodway is capable of handling 2,400 cubic meters per second of water flow, although the actual flow is about 2,000 cubic meters per second. To complement the floodway, the Napindan Hydraulic Control System (NHCS) was built in 1983 at the confluence of the Marikina River and the Napindan Channel of the Pasig River to regulate the tidal flow of saline water between Manila Bay and the lake, and to prevent the intrusion of polluted water into the lake.
It has a fully gated diversion dam at its head and was designed with a width of 260 meters (850 ft).
But one’s spirit sinks with the closing line:
Over 40,000 households are situated along the floodway’s banks and these shoreline slums have reduced its effective width to 220 meters (720 ft).
Kangkong (water spinach) is cultivated extensively in the floodway as well.
Is it any wonder then the floodway failed in the face of storm Ondoy’s onslaught?
Now it’s crystal clear why Mr. Bayani confessed in a bitter, and sarcastic tone, that he was “to be blamed” for the capital region’s most destructive floods in half a century.
But Bayani capped that ‘confession’ by declaring he would not resign.
Malacanang, of course, is backing BF and glossing over government’s lack of political will in removing the settlers on the banks of the floodway.
We are essentially being told ‘magdusa kayo (suffer)’.
Wasn’t this a case of official negligence of criminal proportions???
