Immediate rehabilitation of city ponds pushed

CEBU, Philippines — In order to minimize further flooding in the city, Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo hopes to get Mayor Raymond Garcia’s nod on their plans to rehabilitate and improve existing detention ponds in the city as soon as possible.

Guardo, chairman of the committee on infrastructure in the City Council, said in an interview with The Freeman that they have identified detention ponds in the city that they could rehabilitate.

These ponds include those at the University of San Carlos-Talamban area, Maria Luisa Subdivision, and Family Park. The ponds were identified after a joint inspection conducted earlier by Task Force Gubat sa Baha, Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH), Cebu City Planning and Development Office, and the Department of Engineering, as well as some consultants and a representative from USC, Maria Luisa and Family Park.

Although there are existing detention ponds, most of them are desilted and not working for its primary function.

Detention ponds as against retention ponds, are those structures built to temporarily contain rainwater until it can be safely released downstream.

“Ang importante, ma kuan ang detention didto kay karon man gud, one of the major causes of flooding downstream, is the run-off water coming from upstream,” Guardo explained.

Guardo said they will present their plans to desilt and deepen these detention ponds to help mitigate flooding in the city.

“In order to accommodate more volume of water, gikinahanglan pud namo to sila paladman,” he added.

Guardo also disclosed that DPWH has an existing budget of P13 million for the rehabilitation of the existing ponds.

Guardo added that this is more practical than building retention ponds as being a permanent storage for rain water, it takes more funding and time to build.

In the Southern District, Guardo said he is going to make a follow up on Alta Vista concerning its drainage system and absence of a detention pond to hold off run-off water.

The group is expected to present their findings and recommendations to Mayor Garcia today.

“We told DPWH to give us time na pa present lang ni namo among findings and recommendations kay Mayor then if go na si Mayor, proceed na pud sila sa ilang project,” ended Guardo. (CEBU NEWS)