November 2005 ISSUE
THE KEYSER FILE
Canadian Flood Prevention
Heads Home to India
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BY Tom Keyser
Freelance Columnist
Southern Albertans who soaked their feet in flooded basements during the damp summer of 2005 can empathize with the waterlogged residents of Guwahati. Punished by archaic drainage systems and inadequate flood control measures, the folks of this gateway to northeast India endure waist-high flood waters practically every year.
Because he grew up near the city and once worked as a project manager for the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority, Calgary civil engineer Arup Goswami, P.Eng., understands the problem from personal experience. He now lives half a world away, but he’s helping his ex-neighbours do something about their flooding woes.
Has he succeeded? Well, yes and no. At the very least, he has planted constructive seeds which may someday sprout into the actual improvements he’s calling for.
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Streets of Water |
Rotary Connection
Never count him out. Mr. Goswami makes a habit of performing charitable works,
and his success as a new Canadian is no small undertaking, either. A dedicated
Rotarian who immigrated to Canada in 1996, Mr. Goswami earned his P.Eng. three
years ago.
He just returned from Mairipora, Brazil, where he and his colleagues from the Rotary Club of Calgary East delivered a complimentary set of a half-dozen Internet-ready computers to the local public library.
But addressing the chronic water management difficulties of Guwahati — population 915,000 in the heart of India's tea-producing state of Assam — is a far more daunting task.
Mr. Goswami was the one who first brought the proposal forward to Rotary. As he perused the Guwahati newspapers, headlines in bold type assured him the age-old flooding problem continued to plague his former community.
Canadian Know-How
So Mr. Goswami proposed returning to the land of his birth with a brain full
of good old-fashioned Canadian expertise. In North America stormwater management,
as well as silt and sediment control, are among the most important factors in
any new development.
That means back in Guwahati, development by development, the problem is compounding
itself.
“Basically, I took our technological strategies to them. When I worked
in Guwahati, I specialized in structural engineering and did not know how to
solve the problem. But in Canada I've learned that our standards and procedures
could successfully be applied to correct the situation.”
Members of his club endorsed the idea and brought it forward to the U.S.-based headquarters of the International Rotary Foundation. The foundation also liked the idea and ultimately picked up the lion's share of the $5,000 tab to send Mr. Goswami and a non-engineering Rotarian to the city. He also attended a two-day technical seminar there, sponsored by the Calgary East and Guwahati West Rotary clubs, where he made his pitch.
And what is that pitch?
As Mr. Goswami sees it, a major part of the problem is the rapid development in the region, which has led to an inordinate sedi-ment buildup in collection ponds. And it hasn't helped that a large stormwater drainage project commissioned by the city was abruptly put on hold after serious design flaws came to light.
Mr. Goswami recommends ceasing new commercial construction in the vicinity of the overburdened ponds, while bringing in immediate measures to control the unchecked accumulation of silt and sediment.
The Indians of his former home “must learn to regulate the flow of stormwater, while capturing water in a more effective network of storm ponds,” says Mr. Goswami. “It sounds like a simple job but it isn't. They have to calculate their runoff and their silt buildup, and factor it in with the annual rainfall.”
What it boils down to is this: officials must adopt a master drainage plan implementing technologies and designs which long ago became standard practice in Western Canada.
The Cost of Success
The work won't come cheap. Even an initial feasibility report would approach
$3 million in cost.
However, Mr. Goswami informed local officials that they may well be eligible
for a significant amount of funding from the Canadian International Development
Agency or the World Bank, among others.
It's an enormous and expensive problem and Indian officialdom, still weighing
its options, may well be stuck with it for some time. Still, a few private developers
have lent an ear to Mr. Goswami and are working to incorporate his suggestions
into their landscaping plans.
Back home, Mr. Goswami's sure of one thing: he'll never complain if a few inches of water seep into his Calgary basement.