[Answered] Bangaluru flood is all man-made and a result of a complete lack of vision of how a city needs to grow in a sustainable manner. Discuss and suggest remedial measures.

The city of Bangaluru witnessed several spells of heavy rainfall recently. Over the last few years, urban floods seem to have become an annual phenomenon in India. While heavy rainfalls are a significant factor in urban floods, a major cause is poor planning, inadequate infrastructure, unauthorized construction and encroachment of river and lake beds.

Bangaluru flood: Man-made and unsustainable growth of city:

• The city corporation has not connected the villages with the city’s sewage infrastructure. Because of this, the stormwater drains malfunction, allowing rainwater and raw sewage to overflow.
• Over concretization resulting in reduced infiltration into the soil, unplanned urbanization, changes to the topography and lack of buffers to hold surface water all lead to flooding.
• The highway acts as a dam for the water. Bengaluru’s drainage infrastructure is unprepared to handle periods of unexpectedly severe rainfall.
• Garbage frequently clogs drains, which limits the flow of sewage, and they are too small to support the weight of the expanding population.
• Both the road network design and the leak system design are incorrect. Also, there is no proper planning to use lakes to buffer extra water.
• The open areas including, the greens and the lakes have been recklessly destroyed which completely altered the balanced water management strategy of the city.

Remedial measures:

• Protected areas for river, lake, and other water channel catchments must be identified and freed from encroachments.
• Permeable surfaces rather than full concrete can be utilised in locations such as parking lots, footpaths, walking lanes, common areas in apartments and other large structures.
• Build climate resilience and a better environment such as curb car travel, improve cheap public transport with more buses instead of waiting for the expensive metro.
• Preserve existing green cover and plant more trees, both in the city and around it.
• Risk reduction should start with a mapping of flood vulnerability. Land use in urban areas should be strictly regulated.
• De-concretise pavements, prohibit littering and segregate garbage as unsegregated garbage clogs drains.
• The urban infrastructure must be upgraded, including construction of new storm water drains and expansion of existing sewerage infrastructure.
• Outdated institutions need to be replaced by a constitutionally compliant structure, with local governments at the top.

To develop a long-lasting solution, all parties must acknowledge the issues and adopt a thorough strategy. There is a need to integrate all the development activities and urban governance.