Rain, roads and the throttled wetlands

Roads are a nightmare these days. Yes, it has been a very wet inter-monsoon and yes, it has rained very hard for over a month- but there is no excuse for roads turning into rivers with every downpour?

Every suburban resident whether from Maharagama, Mahabage or Mahara battles with the roads these days. Pedestrians are forced to wade through more than ankle-deep pools or risk their lives by walking in the middle of the road. The sides of roads are gushing rivulets after a shower and retain their water feature in the form of muddy pools for days afterwards.

One day I took a short cut through a narrow residential road to avoid a particularly deep pool of water on the main road and found myself marooned. Between the raised walls of these well-built suburban homes, there was gushing water upto a foot or more. Water flowed on to the road from all around looking for outlets but finding none, simply flowed along the road, turning the normally well-maintained tarred road into a knee-deep stream.

The area around this road used to be a marsh. Just like many of the present suburban neighbourhoods, these homes were built obstructing the natural drainage pattern that existed. Ten years ago, the area was not built up. Homes had gardens of a few acres and no parapet walls hemming the road. But today, land prices and rapid urban sprawl has created such a demand for these lands.

Ten or fifteen-perch blocks with many homes replaced the old order and everyone needed a parapet wall. When rains come, the water has no escape. It seeks the lowest point in the landscape and find that it is the road! So the road, substitutes for the marsh it used to flow in to.

This scenario is true for so many suburban landscapes around Colombo. Gradual elimination of the natural wetland feature that was predominant around the outfall of the Kelani and replacing it with poorly designed, badly drained built landscape is a recipe for disaster. One would think that 1992 taught us a lesson in filling wetlands and blocking natural drainage- but apparently not.

It is illegal to reclaim paddy lands- especially if the paddies are still being cultivated. But if you look at the suburban neighbourhoods, how rare is it to see an actual 'working' paddy in the vicinity. Many friends who built homes overlooking expanses of paddy now complain that their view of just another row of homes. Paddy land owners find that it is difficult and cumbersome to cultivate- especially if they are close to some urban sprawl.

There is no labour to help out and there is little profit in it. It would be MUCH more profitable if the land could be converted to sellable property and disposed for housing. To overcome the legal barrier, many farmers begin to cultivate another crop-like bananas or vegetables which need partial filling. Later they build a small shack in the land, the small shack becomes a house and soon the rest of the property is filled and sold.

It might be worthwhile to look at incentives for these 'urban' farmers to keep their paddies intact. Actual monetary benefit from the local authority or State to encourage them to retain their paddy properties as fallow if cultivation is not possible, will mean that much of the remaining drainage areas will be protected.

These low-lying lands not only serve as rainwater sinks, they also protect urban biodiversity the bird, reptiles and insect fauna that is necessary to keep nature alive in an ever expanding concrete jungle.