12/11/2021 - Environment

KEY POINTS

·        As monsoon floods raged across the subcontinent, IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report (AR6) was published.

·        The report noted the increasing frequency of heavy precipitation events since the 1950s and inferred that they were being driven by human-induced climate change.

·        Urban drainage, if it was to do justice to its etymology, would turn cities into sieves that allowed water to soak and pass through.

·        This required safeguarding the numerous natural watercourses threading the city as they drain water away and sustain fragile groundwater aquifers.

·        The apathy for restoring disappearing urban waterways, stands in stark contrast to the Indian government’s recent obsession with reviving ancient rivers.

·        Poor design and corruption inseparable bedfellows in South Asian urban planning  significantly contribute to urban floods.

·        In most South Asian countries, however, either design guidelines are missing, or the outlets are too small to accommodate peak flow.

·        Ever since concretisation became shorthand for urbanisation, rainfall in a changing climate no longer finds its way towards subterranean capillaries or surface water bodies.

·        To heal the hydrophobia that has shaped our urban experience, we need to move away from land-centric urbanisation and recognise cities as waterscapes.

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