Dear Editor,
It was reported in the media on September 14 that Major General Joseph Singh (rtd), Chairman of the National Task Force to address the area of drainage stated that the recently completed Hope-Dochfour Canal will alleviate the flooding of farms and villages in Mahaica and Mahaicony. He rightly discounted the popular belief that the canal will provide flood protection for areas on the East Coast of Demerara since the canal was designed to provide flood relief only for the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC). However, there is no technical evidence to support his claim that the canal will also prevent flooding of farms and villages in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas.
During periods of heavy rainfall the catchments of the Mahaica and Mahaicony Rivers as well as that of the EDWC are usually in flood mode. Because of the damage a breach of the dam of the EDWC is likely to cause when it is in flood mode, its Lama and Maduni sluices on the Mahaica River are opened to release flood water into the Mahaica River whose water level is also usually at a high level simultaneously. Therefore releases from these sluices at this critical juncture make a bad situation worse, particularly for the lower reaches of the Mahaica River, although locking off their discharges has shown that flooding of the Mahaica area will not be prevented but minimized. The Hope Canal is intended to prevent releases of flood waters from the Lama and Maduni sluices but the jury is still out as to whether this is indeed possible. In any case their usefulness will still be needed for extreme circumstances so they will have to be kept under mothballs.
Of greater concern is the silting of the mouth of the Mahaica River which severely restricts discharges of flood water into the ocean, thus causing the back-up of flood water in the river and over topping of its banks causing widespread flooding.
Dr Bheri Ramsaran, Health Minister in the former PPP government is reported to have told the National Assembly during the 2015 budget debate that diseases and infections that are associated with flooding will not affect residents of the Hope-Dochfour areas since flooding of their homesteads has been averted as a result of the Hope Canal Project, although it is yet to be fully functional. It is evident that Dr Ramsaran has no data to substantiate his claim and he is not conversant with the function of the Hope Canal since it does not drain the lands through which it passes, and therefore will have no effect with respect to their flooding. Further, the canal has seriously disrupted the existing drainage and infrastructures of the many farms and homesteads through which it passes, and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) was committed to restore them to their former functions but nothing substantial has been done so far. These disruptions are more likely to adversely affect the health and welfare of the residents of the Hope-Dochfour areas than construction of the Hope Canal.
Finally, the design volume of water the Hope Canal could discharge over a 24-hr drainage period has been a state secret. Now that the canal is completed, the National Task Force for drainage should request the NDIA to release the measured volume of water the completed canal is actually discharging into the ocean over a 24-hr drainage cycle. The comparison (design v actual) will determine whether the canal could indeed effectively relieve flood water from the EDWC.
Yours faithfully,
Charles Sohan
