Dear Editor,
As a result of heavy rainfall, dangerously high water levels in the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) had to be relieved through the Lama and Maduni Sluices into the Mahaica Creek to assure the safety of the conservancy dam. This release of floodwater from EDWC into the Mahaica Creek was more than the waterway could safely handle. Hence its water level rose, overtopping its banks and causing extensive flooding and damage to bordering farms and homesteads.
In a release as a result of the damage suffered, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud is reported to have stated that with completion of the proposed Hope Canal, residents and farmers will be relieved of the fear of flooding. He further stressed that the canal will prevent the future use of the Lama and Maduni Sluices to discharge floodwater into the Mahaica Creek thereby eliminating flood threats to communities along the creek although the stated objective of the canal is to relieve floodwater from the EDWC, reduce frequent use of the Lama and Maduni Sluices but not to reduce flooding of coastal lowlands since it is not designed to do so.
These statements by Minister Persaud are not only misleading but will lead to false hopes, as a recent evaluation of the canal by Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) appointed engineering consultants conclude that the canal “could not be considered as a substitute for the Lama and Maduni Sluices.” Further, during periods of heavy rainfall, closure of these sluices with the canal operating would increase the risk of the overtopping of the EDWC dam since it would not be possible to maintain conservancy levels at 58.50 GD.
After the 2005 flood, an action plan with a number of measures to be carried out immediately was formulated to operate the various outlets of EDWC at specific water intervention levels. The past several days of persistent heavy rainfall apparently caught the Board of EDWC off-guard again, causing the commissioners as a last resort to release floodwaters from the conservancy through the Lama and Maduni Sluices after its water level had reached a dangerous elevation, instead of at the intervention level as was previously pre-determined. The evidence suggests that the other EDWC relief structures were not being operated at recommended intervention levels and hence the rapid rise in water levels in the conservancy were the result of poor water management rather than the start of La Niña.
Flood control cannot be managed on an emergency basis, with a little excavation here, moving a mobile pump there, and building a revetment yonder. MOA has to come up with an executable comprehensive plan to improve flood protection for people living on the densely populated lowlands with critical near-term civil works to increase drainage relief capacity to handle intense rainfall immediately.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
