Archive for the 'floods' Category

Lake’s Deterioration Needs Urgent Attention

Published on 02/06/2012 in contaminated water, drought, floods, hydrology, lakes, management, policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Dongting Lake. Retrieved from: www.chinatourstravel.com

“The situation on Dongting Lake, once China’s largest freshwater lake, remains grim despite growing awareness on ecological conservation, a local environment official has warned.

“I often tell people that our mother lake is seriously ill and needs urgent attention,” said Zhao Qihong, director of the administration for East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve.

A number of factors are to blame, he said, with heavy pollution and intense human activities the two biggest culprits, while overexploitation and unscientific development has hastened the lake’s deterioration.

“There will always be a conflict between preservation and development,” Zhao said, explaining that many residents around the lake still rely heavily on its resources to make a living.

Extreme weather such as severe droughts and floods in recent years have also taken their toll on eco-diversity, while water projects on the Yangtze River may have led to changes in the water temperature and the lake’s flux.

Authorities have stepped up protection of the lake in recent years, he said, including ordering more than 200 polluting factories to close down. Government-led projects have also helped ‘land’ most all-year fishermen, who put a huge burden on fish stocks and whose number used to top 6,000.”

Read more: China Daily

lily victoria

Water grid bosses back doubts over dam story

Published on 02/06/2012 in dams, floods and management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Wivenhoe Dam strains to hold back flood water in January.

Retrieved from: Brisbane times

“The operators of Brisbane’s biggest dam may have waited two days longer than claimed to proceed to a key water release strategy in the lead-up to the city’s devastating flood, two senior water grid officials have told an inquiry.

“The flood commission, headed by Court of Appeal judge Catherine Holmes, is holding 11th hour hearings to test Seqwater’s assertions about when Wivenhoe Dam engineers moved to a “W3” strategy, which allows more rapid releases and prioritises the protection of urban areas such as Brisbane.

“Dam engineers have argued they moved directly from W1 – when low-lying rural bridges are prioritised – to W3 at 8am on Saturday, January 8, 2011, as required in the official dam manual.

“It is not in dispute that the most serious strategy, W4, was activated on Tuesday, January 11, when large amount of rainfall forced operators to massively ramp up releases from the dam.

“Thousands of homes were inundated when the Brisbane River flood peak occurred on the morning of Thursday, January 13.”

Read more: Brisbane times

sammykayed

Clean-ups begin as some Qld floodwaters fall

Published on 02/06/2012 in displacement of people and floods. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh examines the swollen Maranoa River near the flood affected town of St George.

Retrieved from: SMH

“As the first of the floodwaters begin to fall in southwest Queensland, clean-ups have started in Roma and Mitchell, but people in Charleville are still waiting for the all clear to return home.

“Maranoa mayor Robert Loughnan says while people have begun work on their homes in Roma and Mitchell, the situation in both towns is still ‘‘pretty diabolical’’.

‘‘Mitchell is in really bad shape, it’s a dreadful place at the moment,’’ he said.

“Mr Loughnan said the bridge into the town, which provides the only access at the moment, was not in good shape.

‘‘Main Roads are doing their best to clear up all of the debris and replace the side rails which have been badly damaged.’’Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts says hundreds of homes have been damaged and an initial inspection is underway.

‘‘So very significant damage and very significant dislocation to those individuals.’’Weather bureau hydrologist Chris Leahy said gauges at Roma and Mitchell had been damaged and could not be repaired until after the floods had passed.”

Read more: SMH

sammykayed

Super models – using maths to mitigate natural disasters

Published on 02/03/2012 in climate change, dams, floods, management and peak water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

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Photo retrieved from: theConversation.edu.au

“Last year will go on record as one of significant natural disasters both in Australia and overseas. Indeed, the flooding of the Brisbane River in January is still making news as the Queensland floods inquiry investigates whether water released from Wivenhoe Dam was responsible. Water modelling is being used to answer the question: could modelling have avoided the problem in the first place?

This natural disaster – as well as the Japanese tsunami in Marchand the flooding in Bangkok in October – involved the movement of fluids: water, mud or both. And all had a human cost – displaced persons, the spread of disease, disrupted transport, disrupted businesses, broken infrastructure and damaged or destroyed homes. With the planet now housing 7 billion people, the potential for adverse humanitarian effects from natural disasters is greater than ever.

Here in CSIRO’s division of Mathematical and Information Sciences, we’ve been working with various government agencies (in Australia and China) to model the flow of flood waters and the debris they carry. Governments are starting to realise just how powerful computational modelling is for understanding and analysing natural disasters and how to plan for them.

“So how does it work?

Well, fluids such as sea water can be represented as billions of particles moving around, filling spaces, flowing downwards, interacting with objects and in turn being interacted upon. Or they can be visualised as a mesh of the fluids’ shape.”

Read more: The Conversation

Sami Oueida

Flooding and water scarcity ranked as top threat for UK

Published on 01/27/2012 in climate change, drought, floods and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: edieWater

“Water scarcity and flooding is likely to become the main problem for the UK in the future, which will need to adapt to increase its reliance, was the stark warning from the first comprehensive climate change risk study.

“As part of the assessment, 700 potential climate change impacts were investigated, with flooding ranked as the worst risk for the UK, closely followed by water shortages, soil erosion and prolonged heatwaves.

Flood risk is projected to increase significantly across the UK, with analysis for England and Wales showing unless plans to adapt to changing risks are implemented, that by the 2080s climate change and population growth could see damages to buildings and property reach between £2.1bn – £12bn, compared to current costs of £1.2bn.

Water quality is also predicted to be affected, as it depends on water volume and river flows to dilute pollutants. This, states the report is likely to increase water treatment costs and damage the local ecosystem.

“The CCRA also predicts increasing pressure on the UK’s water resources and warns that without action to improve water resources there could be major supply shortages by the 2050s in parts of the north, south and east of England, with the Thames River basin predicted to take the brunt of the drought.”

Read more: edieWater

Sami Oueida

Regional tensions limit Bhutan climate summit aims

Published on 11/18/2011 in displacement of people, floods, peak water and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Iceagenow

“Four Himalayan nations, faced with erratic weather and the threat of melting glaciers and catastrophic floods, are hashing out a plan for preserving the vast mountain range and helping millions living in the foothills cope with climate change.

“But as India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan set to work on a new 10-year management policy, three other major Himalayan nations will be conspicuously absent.

“Organizers have downplayed the fact that Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are not attending the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas, saying the talks Saturday in Bhutan’s capital of Thimphu are focused on securing ecosystems, endangered species, forests and food and water sources for only the eastern part of the range.

“The summit, to some extent, is the Himalayan answer to an urgent need for action amid the international community’s inability to agree on limiting greenhouse gas emissions thought to cause global warming. Expectations are again low for a breakthrough at the next U.N. climate talks, beginning Nov. 28 in Durban, South Africa.

“Regional tensions have long prevented Himalayan cooperation, including basic research in the world’s largest block of glaciers outside the polar regions, and accounting for 40 percent of the world’s fresh water.”

Read more: APress

Sami Oueida

Government’s Citarum River dredging project kicks off

Published on 11/09/2011 in floods, hydrology, management, policy, rivers and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.cempakanature.com

“Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto will inaugurate the project at the flood-prone Baleendah district, Bandung regency, some 15 kilometers south of Bandung city. The dredging project will stretch some 180 kilometers.

Citarum River Area Center head Hasanudin said the labor-intensive project was expected to be completed in three years and would minimize the annual flooding of as much as 7,000 hectares as the Citarum River swells during the rainy season, which usually leaves Bandung, Purwakarta, Karawang and Bekasi regencies inundated.

“The project will simultaneously be carried out from Sapan in Bandung regency, Najung and Jatiluhur in Purwakarta and Muara Gembong in Bekasi,” Hasanudin told The Jakarta Post in Bandung on Tuesday.

The normalization project includes dredging millions of cubic meters of sediment, making sheet piles for embankments, pedestrian bridges and straightening a number of stretches thus far regarded as impeding the river flow.

Hasanudin said the project came in anticipation of the quinquennial flooding that usually engulfs some 12,000 hectares in river basin areas. The last floods were in February of last year, leaving 50,000 hectares of farmland in Karawang flooded for three weeks.

Some 250 NGO community empowerment groups will help educate residents living near the Citarum River, showing them how to protect the river basin areas. The NGOs will encourage residents to recycle waste rather than dump it into the river.”

Read more: The Jakarta Post

lily victoria

Residents Tear Down Bangkok Flood Barrier

Published on 11/02/2011 in contaminated water, floods, management, policy, rivers, wastewater and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.aljazeera.net

“Residents in northeastern Bangkok have destroyed part of a canal floodgate in an attempt to divert floodwaters away from their homes amid allegations that authorities are allowing the outskirts of the city to flood to protect central areas.

Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay, reporting from the Thai capital on Wednesday, said residents had smashed through the barrier “with their bare hands” in the hope the action would drain the water from their homes.

Police stationed 400 officers to guard floodgates which city official say are essential to prevent the centre of the city and industrial areas from being flooded.

Local officials had said that central Bangkok would be largely safe from flooding, but with anger mounting among those outside the capital and with the threat of further damage to floodgates, our correspondent says that is no longer the case.

The anger around the flood gates has led to a political battle between the city and federal governments.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered a metre of the flood gates open despite objections from officials in the city who fear the rediverted waters will reach two nearby industrial estates.

With water levels along the Chao Phraya – the river that flows through Bangkok – reaching 3.3 metres, its highest level in days, authorities say keeping the floodgates closed is necessary to prevent waters reaching central areas of a city that is home to 12 million people.”

Read more: Aljazeera

 

lily victoria

Bangkok braces for flooding from high tides

Published on 10/28/2011 in displacement of people and floods. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Chinatown residents make their way through a flooded street on Wednesday. The water has caused problems for small vehicles and led to traffic congestion.

Retrieved from: CNN

“Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) — Severe flooding in Thailand Friday threatened central areas of Bangkok, a bustling capital barely above sea level and facing inundation at the next high tide predicted at 13 feet.

“Residents who decided to stay in their homes despite government pleas to get out waited anxiously to see if the highest tide, forecast for Saturday afternoon, would overwhelm defenses along the Chao Phraya River and its many canals.

“Bangkok’s outer suburbs are already submerged but the the central city has so far been largely spared the misery Thailand has been suffering for months in the nation’s worst flooding since 1942.

“But now the city must face two converging demons of water.”

Read more: CNN

chrismorrow

Bangkok Becomes Medieval-Style Fortress Against Deadly Flood

Published on 10/21/2011 in contaminated water, floods, management, policy, rivers, wastewater and water diversions. 0 Comments

Retrieved from: www.bangkokpost.com

“Floods have smothered much of Thailand, killing at least 317 people and prompting Bangkok to surround itself with makeshift walls, leaving those outside the perimeter to suffer from diverted water, reminiscent of medieval times when people dug moats and sealed off their fortress cities against plague, war and other calamities.

“We have been doing everything we can, but this is a big national crisis,” Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said.

“I’m begging for mercy from the media here,” she said, after heavy criticism for her poorly coordinated response to the floods.

Bangkok is now a virtual island under siege from a relentless flow of brown water, strewn with garbage and chemicals, after three months of widespread monsoon rains and increasingly swollen rivers, all flushing alongside the capital and draining into the nearby Gulf of Thailand.

Many U.S. and other foreign companies — which were lured to this tropical Southeast Asian country to profit from workers’ low wages and other cheap costs — have found their modern factories and warehouses devastated because they are located outside Bangkok’s survival-of-the-fittest flood walls.

Distraught investors watched in dismay as swirling liquid drowned several sprawling, investor-friendly, low-lying “industrial parks” after breaching insufficient barriers.

The worst-affected industrial zones are 50 miles north of Bangkok where three rivers converge at Ayutthaya, which was founded in 1350 and became an opulent capital before it was abandoned in 1767 because elephant-riding troops from Burma invaded and destroyed it.

Multinationals which suspended or slowed operations due to the floods in Ayutthaya included Canon, Ford, Honda, Isuzu, Nikon, Seagate Technology, Sony, Toyota and Western Digital.”

Read more: Scoop

 

lily victoria