Cities constructed to empty or drown?

The rain begins, and for a lot of cities, so does the chaos. Choked roads, submerged streets, countless site visitors — a well-known monsoon story. Should you’re indoors, you might benefit from the patter in your window. However step exterior, and it’s a distinct world: stalled autos, knee-deep water, and helplessness. Yr after 12 months, the identical scenes play out. Why does waterlogging look like an annual inevitability? Is the rainfall an excessive amount of to deal with, or are our cities merely constructed to fail with regards to draining water?

For hundreds of years, nature offered its personal refined flood defence system: huge networks of wetlands acted as large sponges, lakes and ponds saved extra rainfall, meandering rivers had floodplains designed to swell and recede, and miles of open soil allowed water to easily soak into the bottom. These had been our cities’ pure allies in opposition to the monsoon’s would possibly.

Nonetheless, in our rush towards speedy city improvement, we’ve systematically ignored, encroached upon, and sometimes destroyed our cities’ pure drainage techniques. Throughout city India — from Delhi to Mumbai, Chennai to Guwahati — lakes have been crammed, wetlands drained, and riverbeds constructed over. Inexperienced, open land has been changed by concrete and asphalt, turning once-absorbent cities into impermeable surfaces. So when heavy rains arrive, there’s merely nowhere for the water to go, and our streets flip into rivers inside minutes.

Individuals push an e-rickshaw by way of a severely waterlogged highway following heavy rainfall, in Mathura.
| Picture Credit score:
ANI

When cities flip into swamps

Simply final week, Pune witnessed one in all its worst spells of city flooding, with roads turning into rivers and site visitors crawling by way of waist-deep water. The Pimpri-Chinchwad space was notably hard-hit, with stunning visuals circulating on-line — autos stranded, individuals wading by way of murky water, and whole stretches submerged. These scenes as soon as once more highlighted town’s fragile drainage infrastructure, worsened by speedy urbanisation, disappearing pure water channels, and poorly deliberate building.

Commuters wade by way of a waterlogged highway amid heavy rains as unseasonal rains lash a number of elements of Mumbai, at Andheri in Mumbai.
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ANI

Chennai, too, presents a deja vu. Regardless of being no stranger to floods, town continues to grapple with waterlogging each monsoon. With wetlands shrinking and stormwater drains typically clogged or overwhelmed, even reasonable rainfall is sufficient to throw day by day life out of drugs.

Bengaluru just lately joined the record of city deluges. In mid-Could, town recorded over 105mm of rain in 24 hours — one of many highest in 15 years — and noticed 130 mm in a single night time thereafter. Specialists hyperlink these recurrent floods to Bangalore’s transformation: over 190 lakes as soon as interconnected, now encroached upon or polluted, and stormwater drains blocked by unplanned building.

What went flawed: From water-wise to water-wrecked

Indian cities weren’t all the time so flood-prone. They had been as soon as in-built concord with water channels, not in opposition to them. Lakes, wetlands, canals, and floodplains shaped nature’s built-in flood defence system. Wetlands like Chennai’s Pallikaranai marsh and Pune’s Pashan Lake absorbed rainfall, chains of interconnected lakes saved storm water, and open land let water seep into the bottom, recharging aquifers.

A view of the Pallikaranai Marshland in Chennai.
| Picture Credit score:
PICHUMANI Okay

However within the race for unchecked urbanisation, we’ve systematically destroyed this stability. Wetlands have been drained, lakes crammed, riverbeds narrowed, and floodplains constructed over. Hills have been flattened and slopes ignored, all to make method for concrete jungles that repel, moderately than take up, water. In the present day, impermeable surfaces have changed open soil — parks, sidewalks, and even courtyards are paved. So when it rains, water can not seep into the bottom. As an alternative, it swimming pools on the floor, rapidly turning roads into rivers.

To make issues worse, our stormwater drainage techniques are sometimes outdated, clogged, or designed for an period of much less runoff. In lots of locations, the identical drains carry each sewage and rainwater, resulting in overflows and sanitation crises.

City planning itself is a part of the issue — Many cities observe “copy-paste” city designs — lifting layouts suited to dry areas or international contexts, with out contemplating native topography or pure water move. Which means that hills are flattened, slopes ignored, and building continues on land that was by no means meant to carry buildings, however water.

The place does the water go now?

The direct consequence? When it rains — and it now rains tougher and extra incessantly as a result of altering local weather patterns — the water has nowhere to go. The pure techniques that when saved or absorbed it are gone. What stays are choked storm drains, overwhelmed sewage traces, and flooded streets.

So even a brief spell of rain can now deliver a whole metropolis to a standstill. Not due to the rain itself, however as a result of the locations constructed to deal with it have been buried beneath the very concrete that now drowns us.

When cities can’t breathe: The forgotten science of city hydrology

City hydrology is the science of how water behaves in a metropolis — the way it falls, flows, seeps into the bottom (infiltration), and will get saved or drained. In a well-planned metropolis, some water soaks into the soil, some gathers in lakes and wetlands, and the remaining flows by way of stormwater drains.

Consider it like a sponge: take up, retailer, launch.

However at the moment’s cities act extra like plastic sheets. Concrete, asphalt, and tiles cowl the bottom. There’s no soil left to soak up rain. So, when it pours, nearly 90% of the rain turns into run-off, speeding over exhausting surfaces with nowhere to go.

A easy diagram to indicate the varied elements and features of a Rooftop rainwater harvesting system. 

Why it fails: From overflowing drains to flash floods

Most city drainage techniques had been constructed for smaller cities and gentler showers. Now, with dense building and fewer inexperienced zones, they get overwhelmed inside minutes.

This results in:

Flash floods: Streets and underpasses flood quick, typically inside minutes of heavy rain.

Waterlogging: Roads flip to rivers, houses get flooded, site visitors stalls.

Groundwater depletion: With infiltration blocked, cities lose out on pure groundwater recharge, down by 50–70% in some areas (Central Floor Water Board).

Well being hazards: Overflowing drains typically combine with sewage, triggering sanitation dangers and illness outbreaks.

Science ignored

City hydrology might have helped us plan higher — to dwell with water, not in opposition to it. But it surely was sidelined within the race for speedy building. Because of this, the water cycle in cities is damaged, and each monsoon reminds us simply how expensive that ignorance is.

Misplaced knowledge, future options: Studying to dwell with water

Water-wise previous, concrete current

Historical India knew the right way to dwell with water. From stepwells and temple tanks within the south and west, to kuls within the Himalayas and johads in Rajasthan, conventional techniques managed rain successfully — gathering, storing, and recharging groundwater. These weren’t simply constructions, however half of a bigger water ethos: take up, retailer, reuse.

On the coronary heart of this knowledge was Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) — gathering rain the place it falls and utilizing it to recharge the earth. Its advantages had been easy: much less flooding, extra groundwater, and decrease dependency on municipal provides.

The Highways Division has proposed to put in such Rain Water Harvesting constructions at over 200 locations beneath the ten km lengthy JM Bakery – Airport flyover in Coimbatore.
| Picture Credit score:
SIVA SARAVANAN S

However at the moment, these techniques are both forgotten or poorly maintained. Many buildings have token RWH setups that lie clogged, unused, or non-functional. Rooftops drain water into streets as an alternative of recharge pits, and concrete lakes have turn out to be landfills or parking heaps.

In the meantime, drainage and sewage typically share house, resulting in well being dangers when rains trigger each to overflow.

The way in which ahead: Constructing sponge cities

City flooding isn’t inevitable — it’s the results of poor design. The reply lies in reworking our cities from concrete slabs to porous landscapes that take up water like sponges.

1. Blue-green infrastructure: Combine blue components (lakes, wetlands, channels) and inexperienced areas (parks, inexperienced roofs, bioswales). Collectively, they gradual and filter rain naturally.

2. Decentralised RWH: Each residence, avenue, and complicated should harvest rain by way of rooftop techniques, recharge pits, and permeable courtyards — making water administration a collective behavior, not a authorities activity.

3. Revive and Restore: Neighborhood-led restoration of lakes and stormwater channels has proven outcomes.

Instance: Jakkur Lake, Bengaluru – revived utilizing handled water and wetlands, now recharges groundwater and prevents floods.

UK’s ICE (Institute of Civil Engineers) President Fr. Dr. Anusha Shah visited Jakkuru lake with Atkins crew. On this event, Atkins, a number one worldwide design consultancy agency, noticed the method of lake revival and expressed appreciation for the sustainable applied sciences adopted by the company’s lake division within the lake revival efforts.

4. Implement ecological limits: Strictly ban building on floodplains, wetlands, and lakebeds. These are nature’s buffers — constructing over them invitations catastrophe.

5. Local weather-smart city planning: Design for at the moment’s rain, not yesterday’s local weather. Cities want new flood maps, danger zones, and built-in water-smart plans.

World Instance: Room for the River, Netherlands – as an alternative of resisting floods, it made house for them utilizing multi-use flood zones.

A future that breathes with the rain

It’s time to reimagine how our cities deal with water — not by draining sooner, however by absorbing smarter. Rain isn’t the enemy. Poor planning is.

To flood-proof our future, cities should reconnect with water — not by pushing it away, however by giving it house, respect, and room to move.

Cities like Indore and Hyderabad have taken early steps — reviving lakes and stepwells, introducing rain gardens in public areas, and integrating rainwater harvesting techniques into new housing layouts. These might look like small wins, however they provide scalable, replicable fashions for water-smart city planning.