MMDA installs CCTV camera to monitor flood pump stations

MANILA, Philippines – The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is now using technology to make sure that its main floodwater pumping stations will be working as expected with the onset of the rainy season.

MMDA Chairman Oscar Inocentes said the agency has installed 20 Internet-protocol closed-circuit television (IP-CCTV) cameras in 20 of its 25 main pumping stations to provide real time monitoring.

Inocentes said the project is part of the agency’s flood control monitoring system telemetry and remote management platform designed to monitor the 25 pumping stations located at various sites in one centralized command center. “It (project) aims to augment and improve the security conditions at critical areas of operations of MMDA’s flood control offices which will prevent unauthorized personnel from gaining access to restricted areas,” Inocentes said.

“This goes to prove that our operations never ground to a halt even before and after the elections. We remained productive and we are constantly improving our services to the public,” Inocentes added.

Using the new monitoring system, Inocentes said the MMDA can now gather pertinent pumping facilities information including diesel pump status, fuel consumption, fuel level on the storage tanks, and flood levels among other things.

Milagros Silvestre, head of the Management Information System (MIS), said the system will use a hybrid camera and video analytics software as well as intranet platforms which will provide real-time monitoring, recording, and archiving and management of data. “The data which shall be gathered from the various pumping stations shall be transmitted to the MMDA Command Center through its wireless communications system,” Silvestre said.

Silvestre said that once the level of water on the pumping stations and surrounding areas has reached critical levels, alarms would be activated to notify concerned officials to operate more pumping gates or open flood gates if necessary.

Meanwhile, Inocentes urges the public to refrain from indiscriminately throwing their garbage on waterways and drainage systems as it will clog the inlets and cause flooding. “Our efforts to improve the flood control system will be ineffective if we remain careless about our surroundings. We should all do our part to avoid calamities like Ondoy,” Inocentes said.