BACK in 1978, I was a fourth-year high school student and news editor of the Dawn, the student newspaper of the University of the East, at the time Asia’s biggest.
I wrote then that the government’s flood-control program in Metro Manila—which started when I was still in elementary—was a huge success. It had totally controlled the floods from leaving the streets of Metro Manila.
Fast forward more than four decades later and floods remain prevalent. Not only that, they’ve gotten worse, deeper and deeper, reaching higher and higher grounds, and affecting areas that in the past never experienced any flooding.
This, despite the hundreds of billions (maybe even trillions) of pesos sunk into more than half a century of flood-control programs by both the national government and Metro Manila’s local governments.
And with the onset of the rainy and typhoon season, there’s nothing less to expect. This year’s floods will be worse than last year’s.
How did this come to pass?
It’s easy to point our fingers at climate change. But for sure, there are causes within our control.
One, we have to accept that portions of Manila, Navota, Malabon, Paranaque, Pasay, Las Pinas lie below sea level—below the water level of Manila Bay, Metro Manila’s water outlet.
Two, Metro Manila’s drainage system is not integrated—each city has its own and even the national government does not seem to have a really comprehensive and integrated drainage system.
What do I mean? Let’s check, for instance, the drainage system of Makati. Makati is landlocked with no access to Manila Bay; its drainage system needs to be connected to Pasay’s, which has access to Manila Bay. But are they connected and integrated?
Rainwater seems to just fill up the drainage and when it fills up, the drainage system becomes one huge fountain.
Three, Pasig River and all its tributaries are clogged with garbage—water has nowhere to go.
Four, all of Metro Manila is covered with concrete. There’s hardly uncemented soil area through which rainwater can seep to the water bed. All of Metro Manila’s aquifers are dried up.
Five, because of greed, reclamation goes on in Manila Bay—from Cavite to Bulacan—unchecked and unlimited, causing the water level to rise. This is plain contrary to common sense—or common science. Remember in our elementary days, we were made to experiment. Fill a pail with water, then put a big piece of rock and the water spills. It’s called displacement.
So, the more filling materials you dump into Manila Bay to claim the sea (not reclaim because you cannot reclaim what is not yours in the first place; that’s why reclamation is a misnomer), the higher the water level rises. And since the towns and cities along Manila Bay’s shorelines are already below sea level, rainwater from the inland towns and cities has nowhere to go.
What do we do then?
First, stop turning Manila Bay into land to feed the greed of a few businessmen. Better still, return the already claimed portions—but not yet complete—to Manila Bay, where it properly belongs.
Second, instead of building drainages, employ a new technology called recharging the aquifers. Quite simply, drill pipes deep down into the aquifers so that when it rains, the water can flow to the aquifers instead of staying on road surfaces trying to find a route to Manila Bay. The pipes will have a built-in filtration system so that when the water reaches the aquifers, it’s as if it underwent natural filtration through the layers of soil, sand, gravel and rocks beneath the earth’s surface.
By recharging the aquifers, we slay two problems: flooding and water scarcity. Eventually, once the aquifers, we can again pump the water out to supply water to households. And the cycle of recharging and pumping out will just go on—infinitely.
