By Karen Bong
KUCHING, March 11: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) is urging residents not to cover up the outside drains or storm water drains in their residential areas as it will not only prevent the efficient running off of rainwaters that could lead to flooding but also make it impossible for cleaning and clearing works to be done.
Raising this, Mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng observed that a lot of people have covered up storm drains near their residential properties, for example with concrete pavement to create extra parking space, with some leaving no hole or outlet to allow rain water from streets to runoff.
“Under the council requirements for engineering design, these drains are normally not covered.
“Even if there is a small hole or outlet to allow rainwater to runoff, the problem is how can the council do cleaning and clearing works in the drains when it is covered up,” he said during his ShallWeeTalk online session with the community today.
With that, Wee emphasised that citizens need to play their roles and cooperate with the council by ensuring that these outside drains are not covered.
“Let’s work together and if there is a need to cover the drains, at least submit your plan and discuss with the local government if it can be done. We are more than willing to assist and find the best solutions for all,” he added.
Unless the drains are filled up with water due to inadequate capacity to carry a huge volume of rainwater, especially during heavy continuous rains and high tide, Wee pointed out the authorities will then have to figure out the mitigation measures to take.
“We are collecting data and studying the effects of water volume in different areas in order to enable us to plan for mitigation together with relevant authorities such as repairing or upgrading old and dilapidated drainage systems.
“There are cases where we can implement immediate solutions like opening up another outlet to prevent ponding water in Kenny Hill area recently,” he added.
With the blueprint coming from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), he however gave assurance that MBKS will provide the inputs for areas under its jurisdiction.
Wee explained that new property development can also put existing areas at risk of flooding because the land for new construction would be filled up and elevated and this will cause water to run to lower areas.
“Therefore, the authorities will have to review the blueprint of the area to come up with solutions and this will involve a mammoth task and substantial funding which will take time with projects to be implemented in stages and based on priorities,” he said. — DayakDaily
