Flood-weary farmers of Canal No. 2 were yesterday assured that the main drain in their area will be cleaned six times yearly to ease flooding and they were also told that a series of blocked drains have been found and they will be cleared.
The decisions were announced when officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) along with regional officials met with the farmers of Canal #2 at the Kawall Primary School, Canal #2 Polder. The objective was to discuss a drainage plan to combat flooding in the area. During recent rains, farmers suffered heavy losses and complained that negligence by drainage authorities was the cause.
Present at the meeting was NDIA Head Lionel Wordsworth, NDIA Chairman Dharamkumar Seeraj and MOA Permanent Secretary George Jervis.
Some of the farmers welcomed the suggestions for adequate drainage for over 1400 acres of land which will also help with the drainage of Guysuco lands in some parts.
Engineer Gregory Williams of SRKN Engineering presented a three-step drainage plan to the farmers developed by the US Army Corps for Drainage Studies that aims at tackling the water entering the area from the “savannah” by putting mechanisms into place to have it drain elsewhere. The second thing they plan to do is to deal with the water in Canal #2 and thirdly deal with the drainage infrastructure that is already in place but has been abandoned or neglected.
According to Williams they have already conducted a study and found four blocked up “four-foot” drains in the North Section of the Polder and three in the South Section which will help to significantly reduce flooding.
He added that the project was designed after four things were taken into consideration. These were the Engineer’s Study, Hydrological Data, a Hydraulic Study and the Model of the area. With these aspects, the flooding of the area will be reduced significantly.
He contended that they will have to implement a maintenance plan which is a key factor for the successful drainage of the lands. He said they plan to have the canals cleaned before every rainy season to ensure when it rains excessively the lands are not flooded mainly during the months of February, June and October.
This sparked some controversy among the farmers in attendance because some agreed to the maintenance plan and some totally opposed it.
Some of the farmers questioned the survey that was conducted for the project and asked if they had undertaken a study of how fast the weed grows in the main canal.
Williams confirmed that no such survey was conducted and then they all agreed that cleaning the main drainage canal three times per year would not be sufficient so they arrived at a decision to have the canal cleaned more frequently, at least six times per year.
Jervis told the farmers that the authorities are willing to start works in the area from Wednesday providing that they give them the permission to run a drain through their private property so that their farmlands can be drained. The farmers are willing to have that done but there are persons who are not farmers who are not willing to have the drain on their property.
According to the officials the project will be implemented during the course of the year.
