Climate change funds could help tame rogue urban rivers

Last weekend, flooding was, for a zillionth time, the talk of the town over Dar es Salaam, a City of over 6 million residents and a commercial metropolis, that is growing by leaps and bounds. Loss of life and property was reported. Many houses were inundated in water forcing residents to abandon them to save their lives. Many bridges were swept away or were extensively damaged so as to make them impassable.

The rains depicted all signs of the effects of climate change: unexpected, and in huge torrents turning the flow of surface water and in the many urban rivers and rivulets into deadly currents, sweeping obstacles in their way, but also eating into soft river banks, now shorn of protective vegetation and wetlands.

The reaction of public authorities was to take emergency measures to ensure that movement is not hindered for long by destroyed infrastructure. Affected valley dwellers, who are normally the focus of public authorities whenever floods occur, received limited attention in view of the extensive damage to essential infrastructure. One official warned that the government is no longer thinking of demolishing houses constructed in the valleys, since water was doing exactly that. Many valley dwellers are forced by poverty or lack of alternative land, to risk their life and property.

Sadly, the water did not just demolish houses, it claimed lives and also destroyed public infrastructure, causing billions of shillings of direct losses; and indirect losses in the form of wasted man hours and work undone.

Over the weekend, I came across a document indicating that Dar es Salaam residents were suffering from urban floods in the 1970s. Many of those running our urban areas were then yet to be born or they were toddlers.

An urban expert, Professor Kulaba noted in a published chapter in a book, that in May 1986, flooding in the Mtoni area of Dar es Salaam as a result of heavy rains, destroyed more than 200 houses. Similar cases have been reported almost on an annual basis.

So, damage by flooding is not going to go away. Urban rivers are not going away. A scientific strategy to deal with surface water drainage, and to manage urban rivers is essential.

Urban rivers have been changing. The Msimbazi River, the longest in Dar es Salaam, for example, was a large river navigable to fishing boats during the German era. Construction and general urbanization have altered the health and behavior of many urban rivers. Today, most urban rivers have turned to be seasonal, contributing very little to urban greening, but causing extensive damage whenever it rains.

Today, most urban rivers have turned to be seasonal, contributing very little to urban greening, but causing extensive damage whenever it rains. Managing urban rivers is a specialization of its own, with books, such as “Managing Urban Rivers: From Planning to Practice” edited by Victor R. Shinde, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Uday Bhonde, and Hitesh Vaidya, there to assist. It captures the different facets of river management required for integrating rivers within the development landscape of cities in a sustainable manner.

There are also many studies and practices about restoring and managing urban rivers.

Urban rivers and their management is a hot topic as governments across the world are focusing on this aspect, especially since it has direct implications for SDG target 6.6, which aims to “protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes”. It is also closely related with climate change adaptation.

Political support is important for managing urban rivers, turning them from destroyers, to assets. Conceptualization of how this management can be done is important, leading to the formulation of emergency, short term, medium term and long term strategies and programmes.

Enforcing laws is also important and public authorities have to play their part. For example, section 7 of the Land Act 1999, requires the Minister for Lands to declare hazardous areas. A hazardous area includes: “land within sixty metres of a river bank, shoreline of an inland lake, beach or coast”.

Such a declaration, when made as the law requires, the demarcation of hazard lands is made, will not only protect river banks from encroachment, but will also prepare good grounds for urban river management.

Managing urban rivers requires huge resources. Channeling a river for example is hugely expensive. The good news is that we are living in an era of worldwide concern with the environment and the impacts of climate change. Climate change funds, of which there are no less than 99, could be tapped into to assist. For that to happen, we need to have good concepts, ideas and plans about how we intend to tame these urban rivers, which turn rogue whenever it rains.