Limlingan: Heavy silting of our rivers

THE combined effects of Habagat (southwest monsoon) and tropical storm “Mario” has flooded a number of barangays in the province and even displaced some families in many low-lying areas. The rains are not really that heavy if we are to compare with the past onslaught of typhoons and the “Habagat” that struck the country and flooded Pampanga a couple of years ago.

According to the Regional Office III of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD RO-III), more than a thousand families have to be evacuated due to rising floodwaters that might lead to further disaster if homes were inundated.

In fact, according to DWSD R-III Regional Director Adelina Apostol, the figures might grow higher with other reports reaching their office.

Prior to the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, flooding in Pampanga never existed except during extremely heavy and incessant rains. While flashfloods occasionally do happen then, it’s never the same as compared to the flooding situation now.

One reason, aside from the denudation of forested areas or simply the cutting of trees in some areas of the province that contributed to the flooding in Pampanga in the recent years is perhaps the heavy siltation of our rivers after the eruption of the said volcano with lahar, sand and other silt materials and the accumulation of garbage in our rivers and other waterways.

Heavy silting of our rivers makes it heavy for floodwaters to go through and rush to sea. The silt materials deposited in waterways also makes them swell thus, floodwaters “escape” and inundate areas along rivers and other tributaries.

There is a natural law in hydrology that talks about water seeking path to where it is lowest. This is proven when our rivers are made much higher than other land areas because of heavy silting due to natural or man-made causes. The latter is the throwing of trash in our waterways that makes them clogged.

With just relatively minimal rains recently as compared to rainy days then which last for weeks, we have seen its effects after many communities were flooded and families have to be evacuated to avoid further damage.

Recently, Bulacan Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado has renewed his call to the national government to conduct massive dredging of heavily-silted rivers in his province and in Pampanga to mitigate the effects of severe flooding.

He said that the de-clogging of natural waterways can significantly reduce flooding in the said provinces and that heavy siltation is one of the major reasons why many areas are flooded even during normal rainfall.

He has likewise called on the reactivation of the Pampanga River Control System (PRCS), as sub-agency of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that undertakes the dredging of rivers and waterways. The PRCS has been defunct since the post eruption of Mt. Pinatubo with its equipment turned-over to the Mt. Pinatubo Commission.

With the rainy season yet to end, it seems that we have to brace further for more floods with the condition of our rivers that are choked by silt. Unless these silt materials be removed, it could always make our waterways swell.

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If we are just watchful, we can see in many communities that while roads are being upgraded and are either cemented or overlaid with asphalt, line canals along roads are not constructed, thus making many of our roads flooded.

We have seen many road constructions where there are no flood-mitigating infrastructures in them that when heavy rains are experienced, our streets are becoming the canals.

There are roadside canals meanwhile which are likewise silted with trash. Although there are efforts seen especially with some barangay governments initiating the cleaning and de-clogging of these canals, these are overtaken by some residents who transforms these waterways as their dumping sites for their trash.

This is called heavy siltation of waterways at the barangay level.

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