Malabon floodway clogged with water hyacinths

MANILA, Philippines - Water hyacinths are clogging the drainways of the flood control project in Malabon City, hampering the flow of water toward its pumping station.

Malabon City engineer Edgar Yanga said a creek in Barangay Catmon, which connects the Letre canal in Caloocan City to the main water system of the Cloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela (Camanava) flood control project, had been previously cleared of tons of water hyacinths.

Yanga said that the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has assigned men to clean the canal of debris that obstruct the flow of water.

But residents near the waterway said a backhoe used in cleaning the creek lays idle on its bank for almost three months now and men that used to gather water hyacinths at the creek seldom come to do their work.

“A small water lily could grow to more than a meter wide in just a week, that’s why it now covers almost the entire width of the canal,” a resident, who introduced himself as Doming, told The STAR.

He said the water hyacinths must be removed regularly to prevent it from clogging the canal.

Yanga assured residents in the area that the MMDA and the DPWH are “upbeat” in resolving the perennial flood problem in the Camanava area.

He said that according to the local DPWH officials, the P5.5-billion Camanava flood control project is now “substantially finished.”

The defective navigational floodgate at the mouth of the Malabon-Navotas River, which controls the exit and entry of the seawater, is undergoing repair. It is scheduled to be finished on March 30. The repair cost is around P400 million, Yanga said.

The Camanava flood control project was started in 2003 with only a P3.5 billion funding. It was supposed to be completed since 2007.

Yanga said a “regular upgrade” of the project is necessary for it to become effective since seawater is rising continuously due to global warming.

He also cited recent studies which showed that the city is sinking by two centimeters yearly because of soil subsidence.