LETTERS: To prevent massive flooding, we propose that flood mitigation and defence be integrated and inter-connected.
So instead of flood management systems of sluice gates and pumping stations connected to a river without any strategic purpose, there should be an overall masterplan.
As mentioned in a recent EMIR Research article, "Flood management: Please come up with a masterplan", the construction of canals should interlock with one another and not just parallel with one another.
This means that secondary canals should connect with primary canals, which are in turn connected to underground water storage facilities.
Adopting the Netherlands' Room for the River scheme is impractical as over-development takes place on our floodplains, including Kuala Lumpur.
So apart from the Tokyo floodplain model, which is referred to in the article, there is also Singapore's Marina Barrage model (referred to in a Nov 10, 2020 EMIR Research article), an urban water catchment that can be copied for Selangor.
Marina Barrage is similar to London's Thames Barrier, which are 10 separate movable steel gates that stand 20m tall and stretch 520m to protect the city from tidal flooding.
The Stamford Diversion Canal is connected to Marina Bay or Reservoir (seen from the perspective of the role that the barrage plays in damming up freshwater).
Like the Tokyo model, it's a canal system that has an underground detention tank.
Our masterplan could have a similar barrage or barrier that protects against tidal and coastal flooding at the mouth of Sungai Klang.
The river can be flanked by a series of mangrove swamps along the coast on both sides as an eco-barrier to protect against coastal erosion and to maintain some land buffer as a second line of defence.
Underground tanks and other storage facilities should connect with waste water treatment plants where possible.
Otherwise, they can be converted into portable water for transportation to water treatment plants overland by pipe or trucks.
The tanks should be divided into two kinds: one for immediate collection and the other for diversion, that is, to water treatment plants.
Natural water catchments should be identified and gazetted in the upstream, in addition to constructing deep and wide canals.
JASON LOH AMANDA YEO
EMIR Research
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times