How Can You Apply Your Expertise to Help Mitigate Flood Impacts?

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As CEO of The Water Network, many people have asked me to help raise awareness of the need for improved flood management. Since we are the largest knowledge sharing platform in the water sector, the best way for us to do this is to help you share your experience in Flood Prevention, Mitigation and Recovery. 

I look forward to your answers about how we can better connect experience to needs in this area.

In addition, you are invited to participate our new Flood Prevention, Mitigation and Recovery Community . 

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14 Answers

  1. In all the hidrological issues the main key ''measures, instrumentation and social index''. Once a time you've got all records you will be able to establish the social contact and real conditions to support your programs. The real issue isn't that easier but I think it's the only way you gain the social support, forget the technical issues in the real world it doesn't matter! 

    Answered on by

  3. It is interesting to read the answers of the participants about the flood. Technically flood means excess water from the natural drainage channel over flow and breach its embankments engulfing the inhabitants with gust of water damaging huge properties and livings. The rain water comes from the sea to the land form due to some atmospheric phenomenon which brings flooding to the land if it exceeds its drainage boundary. The following factors are responsible to flooding or drainage through a  watershed.

    1. Rainfall intensity,
    2. Vegetative coverage of the watershed.
    3. Size and shape of the Watershed and the land forms.

    If the rainfall intensity is high like in the Houston flooding said to be more than 750 mm of rain within 12 to 24 hours, there is no way that such volume of water could be safely be drained out to sea. The eventual design of the drainage systems are designed for about 25 or 50 year return flood. with such magnitude of intensity the return period will cross 500 yrs return. we cannot avoid such fury of the nature, only early warning and evacuation to a safe high ground only will be possible. you can blame to Climate change or global warming but in a span of 1000 years time such events are possible and will be disaster any way.

    The next factor is vegetative coverage of the watershed, which reduces the flow volume three times. A research at Minasota has found that vegetative coverage reduces the flow of the flooding to one third. Time of concentration as time taken by a drop of water from the farthest point of the catchment to the outlet level of the drainage considered, reduces drastically by vegetation. Therefore man made deforestation turning every piece of land in to cultivation exposing to direct rainfall also is a prime factor of flooding.

    The size and shape of the water shed is obvious a flat lands will be inundated soon whereas hilly valleys will have less effect due to flooding.

    If the people will realize the management of these three factors, the effect of flooding will be minimized. My paper on Hydro Nepal attached herewith would give some inside of the flooding problems in Nepal.

     

     

     

  5. Following emergency back pack to be kept ready:

    (1) 1 Gallon/day Water Per Person.

    (2) Canned & Powder Milk,Foods,Soup,vegetables,fruits,snacks,biscuits,jam,cereal,Bread,Extra batteries.

    (3) Toilet Paper Rolls,diapers.

    (4) Ice Chests.

    (5) Paper Plates,cups.Plastic,forks,knives,

    (6) Insect Repellent spray & candles.

    (7) Charcoal,Lighter & Can opener.

    (B) Stay Connected with Houston Weather Radar.

    (C) Know about Hurricane Wind Scale Category like : 1,2,3,4& 5( Saffir -Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale

    (D) People living In a designated evacuation zone should be prepared to leave when hurricane threatens

    (E) Note Down all Websites & Phone Nos. Regarding Hurricane Tracking Map,Real Time Weather Updates,Evacuation Info.

    3 Comments

    2. YAH  ABOVE IT VERY GOOD PRECAUTIONS.

      Also keep some medications like Panadol/Antibiotics/Antiacid,Gastic tablets/Flagyl etc every person is very important.

      There food high nutrient's and calorie  biscuit's are available in the market.If eat one per day enough for energy for one day.

      Also Warmblankets.

  6. Dears

    Let us respect the nature,  flood management is matter of understanding the relation between the weather and environment  around, all nations suffer from the violation we created of the eco balance, specialy Co2 and earth agreement so till we understend our limits with environment we can find solions

    Thank

     

    1 Comment

    1. Hello Eyad: Your first sentence was right on target.  The rest of the comment said the exact opposite.  Flood management is about understanding nature.   Earth has its own cycles. Mankind is not significant  enough to change anything regarding nature.  Somehow you believe man controls CO2, not nature.  here is one simple fact that may increase the understanding of nature.

      The UN had gathered information of how much waste mankind creates per years.  To make this easier to understand I converted everything into pounds.  Mankind creates 400 billion pounds of waste every year. Nature (all animals, birds, fish, trees etc) create 600 billion pounds of waste per year. This total is 0ne Trillion pounds of waste per year. Nature has been cleaning the earth for the last 4.5 billion years. man  not around then.  Let us put a number to natures ability to clean the earth.  1 trillion = 1 x 10 to the 12th power. Microbial biodegradation and some erosion have the cleaning capacity of 1 x 10 to the 24th power.  Mankind and nature would need to increase waste 1 trillion times to reach breaking point.  Ignorance and waste of available resources is are only challenge. Top scientists in the world have estimated the Earth can reach a population of 80 billion before any crisis would occur.  We have the technology and all of the resources. The number one problem is government interference.   Using your natural resources I can show you how to eliminate all waste in your country and turn your desert into the Arabian Forest.   You have but to ask!   Live long and prosper.    

  7. Watershed management is part of the solution to prevent flooding.

    Prevention of runoff by farming on, or close to, the contour.

    Storage of runoff, either in a streambed, or in an area on a field near the streambed.

    Maintenance is the most important part of every design. It is a permanent part of the design.

  8. Floods!!!

    That is most likely the other far extreme of droughts. Floods can be literally translated as excess water, either from streams over flowing their banks or from excess run off.

    In the natural water cycle, precipitation and infiltration are meant to play the major roles in removing excess water and the chief of this is infiltration. Defined as the movement of water into the soil, it is affected by different factors or infiltration characteristics. When the rate of precipitation exceeds the rate of soil infiltration, the we are likely to have excess water and in most cases leads to flooding. Chief of these soil characteristics affecting rate of water movement in the soil is the soil structure which has in most coastal cities been distorted from its natural free moving form. An understanding of the soil structure along with other soil properties can help in developing models that predicts flooding right from its cause factor. As Urbanisation increases to the needs of the growing population. There is bound to be a gross deviation from the natural when it comes to infiltration and soil properties affecting it.

    A better understanding of theses properties will be a rewarding approach towards prediction and hence mitigation.

  9. We are the manufacurer of personal/family portable water filters, www.naqwa.com Our product is intended first of all for people in need and in emergency cituations. We are always ready to help upon request.

    Felix Zanichkovskiy

    CEO NAQWA, zfm@petros.ru, www.naqwa.com

     

    1 Comment

    1. Felix Zanichkovskiy thank you, I suggest that you contact Richard Seline  who is on the ground in Houston collecting needed equipment

  10. I am afraid if we can prevent flooding, but we can mitigate it and recover from the disaster by being prepared. As this is a natural phenomena, nature surprises us in different ways. Flood mapping, vulnerability mapping, early warning etc help but have their limitations. With regard to mitigation measures the reliable one would be community based disaster risk reduction and mitigation measures. The community being aware of the vunerability and knowledge to access the resources and safety excercises during the flooding is important. As it needs to be done by the intergration of government, community and other stake holders, the implementation of the program is very challenging. Technical community can contribute with lots of new ideas and resources but the implementation of effective disaster planning rests on the sholders of the government and community. Best way to avert disaster is the be aware of the natural processes and live accordingly !!!

  11. sadly most flooding and the damages they cause are a consequence of government interference in natural solutions and costly machines as a first choice. a child book story of the old man that had a leak in his roof. when it is not raining why spend time and money to fix it. when it is raining. can not fix it just save lives and clean up later. no thinking, no management, and no positive results.  short and sweet. 

    1. collect rain water use it. all households and businesses. 

    2. calculate water needs for 2 years and build a cistern for your results.

    3. recycle all of your own organic materials and make your own nutrient dense fertilizer.

    4. grow your own vegetables and fruit.

    5. build a green house on your house or business. pre planting for garden and grow trees.

    6. plant trees in your yard, give to your neighbors, or donate to your city or county. (the average tree drinks 300 gallons of water per day).  This also greatly reduces mudslides and allows plants and grass to grow back faster.

    7. every flood plain and plan has calculations to determine flow rate low water crossing levels and when the peak will arrive.  but no one plans anything about the coming flood. at least Noah had the good sense to build an ark. when lake and rivers are very low, clean out, widen and support banks, trees on all river banks and up to 100 yards away from both sides of banks. (many things to do, work in progress per your budget and volunteers). flood plain lakes and rivers over flow ponds. 10,000 gl., 100,000 gl. 1,000,000 gl..  many as needed to fill your flood management needs. summer time soccer field, flood time small pond for toy sail boats, or paddle boats. emergency water for firemen. city clean water for bottles to give to flood victims.  military calls it NORS kits. Non Operational Ready Supply.  And of course any city or county that is below sea level, no buildings or at least make free compost and slowly build up until above sea level.

    this is just the flood control program using common sense, natural microbes, basic physics. environmental clean up, plant/soil/animal/people health, and agriculture are the other parts of nature folks forget. you are the ceo trudi. I am the cso. good environmental soldier awaits your orders.    

  12. I'd be interested to hear how different countries are tackling floodplain management. In Australia we do have some deficiencies in our funding mechanisms, spending a lot more money on recovery than on prevention, but we have a well developed program for carrying out State and regional flood strategies, local flood mapping and flood risk management plans, land use planning, emergency response, flood warning, etc. These include flood mapping of events ranging from frequent to extremely rare (probable maximum flood).

    I read a number of social media reports recently regarding the Houston flooding from official sources such as the National Weather Service, saying this event is beyond anything we have seen in the past and we don't know whats going to happen. This should never be the case in an area that has had a flood risk investigation completed, because events of the magnitude witnessed at Houston should be included, with flood mapping produced, impacts known, emergency response actions planned, and steps taken to raise awareness in the community.

    So I'd be interested to hear if this sort of work is being done across other countries, if not, why not, and who is responsible for ensuring that events like Houston don't come as a surprise to the community who live in these flood prone areas. By looking to countries who have a well developed flood risk management framework, we can share knowledge and hopefully make positive changes that will reduce the flood risk in flood prone areas across the globe. I'm keen to hear peoples thoughts.         

    1 Comment

    1. Hi Ben, very good question. I have a meeting on the 19th with the National Meteorological Society to see how we can integrate the learnings from them and the GWP Flood experts into this dialogue. Will keep you posted.

  13. Eco-Tec, Inc. manufactures the ADsorb-it Fabric Product Line for the effective removal of free oils and particulates from water.  As water flows through the fabric free oils are generally removed to between 2 and 4 Mg/L and particulates to approximately 100-Microns.  ADsorb-it was particularly effective for shoreline protection during the BP Gulf Oil Spill in 2010.  There is more information on our web site at www.eco-tec-inc.com and I can be contacted at herb@eco-tec-inc.com. 

  14. Hello, I'm currently asking myself the same question, how can we help?  I am sure, that the fitted solution is the autonomous innovation SOLAR WATER that produce mineral water from any kind of non potable water. It can be deployed and use easily anywhere, and allow mineral water autonomy from sources like seawater, swampy water, river water.... I stay ready for action and save lives! 

    1 Comment

    1. Hi TROESCH Guillaume  what is the cost , size and capacity in liters per day?

       

      1 Comment reply

      1. Thank you, size is smaller than a car on ground due to solar pannels, wieght is about 80kg. Capacity of safe mineral water is :

        Blue size : from 10 L to 18L / day

        Basic size :  24 L to 35 L / day for Beside you can also get tap water.

        The whole price, shipping included for those situations is about 1000€ to 1500€ (normal price is 2000€) W

        we can add a cheap pumping system for bringing water.

        I stay ready my contact is troesch.guillaume@gmail.com and phone is +33(0)6 8210 9537