Posted at 07/03/2010 12:24 AM | Updated as of 07/03/2010 12:24 AM
NETHERLANDS - While the Philippines has yet to fully recover from the devastation brought by Tropical Storm Ondoy and the successive typhoons in October last year, the country’s weather agency has recently announced the possibility of the occurrence of the La Niña phenomenon.
The rainy spells that come with it can trigger yet another “Ondoy” tragedy which the country cannot afford to have in just a year.
Rick Heikoop, water and sanitation specialists and professor of water management at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, understands this problem very well. For most part, Heikoop thinks that the flooding problem in the country, especially in the urban areas, has a major connection to urban planning.
Infrastructure and Pollution
Heikoop, who spent 4 years studying urban planning in the University of the Philippines, has also worked with non-government organization Forge helping urban poor communities in the country.
He cites the two biggest problems that cause flooding in urban communities are the continuous abuse of the rivers and lack of proper water storage facilities during rainy seasons.
“I think the biggest issue in mega cities like Manila and Cebu is the pollution of the river channels. People dump their garbage in the river so the capacity of the river will be diminished and in times of rainfall, the drainage capacity will not be enough to get rid of the water,” said Heikoop.
Studies say that 60% of the water pollution in Pasig River is caused by garbage thrown by residents of nearby areas and other materials thrown in the river. Heikoop said that people should be aware that when they throw garbage in the river, they will be the ones to suffer the flooding caused by this.
Heikoop also pointed out the lack of proper drainage in the Philippines. According to him, proper drainage systems are very important to address rainfall during rainy season because Manila is a concrete city and is not capable of absorbing much water.
Dutch technologies
The Netherlands is a low-lying country with some of its cities located 7 meters below sea level. In terms of water and flood management, the country is considered the best in the world. Some of the technologies being implemented by the Netherlands are simple and innovative. Heikoop thinks it can also be applied in the Philippines.
“Manila is basically one big concrete area so there is not enough space to store the water in times of rainy season. I think in their urban planning they should create areas in the city where they can temporary store water. For example what we are doing in Rotterdam, we have underground parking places so half of the parking place is use for water storage. During heavy rainfall we can pump the water to this underground parking places and that is one of the means to create additional water storage in your urban area,” Heikoop said.
Aside from converting dedicated parts of underground parking areas as temporary water storage during heavy rainfall, he also suggested building “water squares”.
“Another thing that the city of Rotterdam did was what we call water squares. During periods of heavy rainfall there is not enough capacity to store water in the urban areas because everything is concrete. What they did is create water squares for basketball fields to temporary become water storage. I think that is also one of the solutions that will be feasible to Philippine context,” he said.
According to Heikoop, climate change also plays a big part in flooding problems. Like the rest the world, Netherlands is also faced with risks like increased rainfall and drought brought about by climate change. In a crowded city like Rotterdam where there can only be limited space to plant trees, green roofs are the next solution for absorbing rainfall.
“We have the Rotterdam climate proof program and what they did in Rotterdam is to construct green roofs. For periods of excessive rainfall and water will be temporary stored on the rooftops so probably that's also a solution that will be feasible in the Philippines,” he added.
Forging cooperation
This year, Heikoop started an internship program in the Philippines in cooperation with different universities in the Philippines, particularly in Visayas and Mindanao. Through his efforts, Rotterdam University signed two agreements of cooperation between San Carlos University in Cebu and Ateneo de Davao University. He also sought the assistance of NGO Forge in Cebu for the project. They are also in talks with the Navotas City Planning office for the said project.
“My idea about the internship is that we do comparative studies, two students in Davao and two in Cebu with San Carlos University. They are going to analyze urban areas to come up with low cost measure to address climate change for example flooding. I think all the knowledge that they got from the course water management, there are a lot of opportunities to apply the knowledge in the Philippine context. I did a lot of project in urban poor communities and I think there are a lot of projects that we can do. I think we can give a lot of help to the people,” he said.
Ingrid Stolk, Chaja Tikai, Hans van Worden and Eduard Scooren are the four water management students who will go to Davao and Cebu to complete a four-month internship program and come up with recommendations that Heikoop hopes will be presented to local governments.
“My main goal is to really, really do something that can help the people. So to use the knowledge we have gathered in the course to really help other people and see that it has effects. It is to feel better that I’ve contribute to ease the problem and also to gain knowledge of different cultures and working methods,” said Tikai.
The rainy spells that come with it can trigger yet another “Ondoy” tragedy which the country cannot afford to have in just a year.
Rick Heikoop, water and sanitation specialists and professor of water management at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, understands this problem very well. For most part, Heikoop thinks that the flooding problem in the country, especially in the urban areas, has a major connection to urban planning.
Infrastructure and Pollution
Heikoop, who spent 4 years studying urban planning in the University of the Philippines, has also worked with non-government organization Forge helping urban poor communities in the country.
He cites the two biggest problems that cause flooding in urban communities are the continuous abuse of the rivers and lack of proper water storage facilities during rainy seasons.
“I think the biggest issue in mega cities like Manila and Cebu is the pollution of the river channels. People dump their garbage in the river so the capacity of the river will be diminished and in times of rainfall, the drainage capacity will not be enough to get rid of the water,” said Heikoop.
Studies say that 60% of the water pollution in Pasig River is caused by garbage thrown by residents of nearby areas and other materials thrown in the river. Heikoop said that people should be aware that when they throw garbage in the river, they will be the ones to suffer the flooding caused by this.
Heikoop also pointed out the lack of proper drainage in the Philippines. According to him, proper drainage systems are very important to address rainfall during rainy season because Manila is a concrete city and is not capable of absorbing much water.
Dutch technologies
The Netherlands is a low-lying country with some of its cities located 7 meters below sea level. In terms of water and flood management, the country is considered the best in the world. Some of the technologies being implemented by the Netherlands are simple and innovative. Heikoop thinks it can also be applied in the Philippines.
“Manila is basically one big concrete area so there is not enough space to store the water in times of rainy season. I think in their urban planning they should create areas in the city where they can temporary store water. For example what we are doing in Rotterdam, we have underground parking places so half of the parking place is use for water storage. During heavy rainfall we can pump the water to this underground parking places and that is one of the means to create additional water storage in your urban area,” Heikoop said.
Aside from converting dedicated parts of underground parking areas as temporary water storage during heavy rainfall, he also suggested building “water squares”.
“Another thing that the city of Rotterdam did was what we call water squares. During periods of heavy rainfall there is not enough capacity to store water in the urban areas because everything is concrete. What they did is create water squares for basketball fields to temporary become water storage. I think that is also one of the solutions that will be feasible to Philippine context,” he said.
According to Heikoop, climate change also plays a big part in flooding problems. Like the rest the world, Netherlands is also faced with risks like increased rainfall and drought brought about by climate change. In a crowded city like Rotterdam where there can only be limited space to plant trees, green roofs are the next solution for absorbing rainfall.
“We have the Rotterdam climate proof program and what they did in Rotterdam is to construct green roofs. For periods of excessive rainfall and water will be temporary stored on the rooftops so probably that's also a solution that will be feasible in the Philippines,” he added.
Forging cooperation
This year, Heikoop started an internship program in the Philippines in cooperation with different universities in the Philippines, particularly in Visayas and Mindanao. Through his efforts, Rotterdam University signed two agreements of cooperation between San Carlos University in Cebu and Ateneo de Davao University. He also sought the assistance of NGO Forge in Cebu for the project. They are also in talks with the Navotas City Planning office for the said project.
“My idea about the internship is that we do comparative studies, two students in Davao and two in Cebu with San Carlos University. They are going to analyze urban areas to come up with low cost measure to address climate change for example flooding. I think all the knowledge that they got from the course water management, there are a lot of opportunities to apply the knowledge in the Philippine context. I did a lot of project in urban poor communities and I think there are a lot of projects that we can do. I think we can give a lot of help to the people,” he said.
Ingrid Stolk, Chaja Tikai, Hans van Worden and Eduard Scooren are the four water management students who will go to Davao and Cebu to complete a four-month internship program and come up with recommendations that Heikoop hopes will be presented to local governments.
“My main goal is to really, really do something that can help the people. So to use the knowledge we have gathered in the course to really help other people and see that it has effects. It is to feel better that I’ve contribute to ease the problem and also to gain knowledge of different cultures and working methods,” said Tikai.
Schooeren and Van Worden are already toying with the idea of applying similar projects done in Indonesia in Davao, where they are using small boats from a Dutch company for small scale dredging in river channels.
Heikoop hopes that these cooperation will expand to other areas in the Philippines especially in Metro Manila where flooding is a problem year after year.
“In my different jobs I was hoping to have links with the Philippines so finally I have an opportunity to enhance the contact with the Philippines and establish contact between the two countries,” said the Dutch professor who is also a Filipino by heart.
Heikoop hopes that these cooperation will expand to other areas in the Philippines especially in Metro Manila where flooding is a problem year after year.
“In my different jobs I was hoping to have links with the Philippines so finally I have an opportunity to enhance the contact with the Philippines and establish contact between the two countries,” said the Dutch professor who is also a Filipino by heart.
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