Flood Mitigation

It might sound like an irony, but flood and drought are the two sides of the same coin, and the link between them is the direction of flow of Water. Let’s understanding it in a bit more detail.

Flooding or Water logging – can be defined as spill over of Water from a Waterbody and accumulation at a site wherein the natural contours have not been respected during urban / industrial or any other man-made construction. It’s a well-known urban problem and everyone is aware of it. We usually link it to either excessive rains or we hold the urban planner / administration responsible for it.

What we often overlook is the cause of spill-over.

The spill over is caused due to chocking of the soil capillaries in the bottom of the surface waterbody due to sludge deposition. Because the link to the aquifer recharge is choked through sludge, the spill over in monsoon becomes obvious. Have a look on the figure to understand the structure of soil, surface water, aquifer and the soil capillary link.