Urban retention basin in developing city: from theoretical effectiveness to practical feasibility

Abstract

Urban retention basin has been introduced as one of the promising measures to address increased storm water flow in urbanized areas. This man-made water space may not just help existing storm water drainage systems regulating extreme events but also improve urban landscape and micro-climate conditions. Can Tho city, a largest city in Mekong delta is facing with flooding throughout the year. While tide is the typical reason causing flooding, extreme rainfall, upstream floods are other reasons. Moreover, when these phenomenon happen at the same time, traditional flood protection measure, for example: dike, tidal sluice can only applicable for river flood or sewer system is used for draining rain water are not effective enough. Therefore retention pond is introduced as a measure for Can Tho city to overcome this flooding problem. However, implementation of retention pond is not an easy task. Technical feasibility, cost/benefit features, stakeholders’ consensus as well as institutional arrangement must be fully assessed. In this study, the Xang Thoi pond, an urban upgraded project is used as a case study. Roles of the pond in flood reduction, consensus, as well as technical barriers are analyzed. The results showed that the upgraded urban project of the Xang Thoi pond has significantly contributed amenities to urban dwellers. However, to improve its functions (e.g. reduce flood peak) as well as to maintain it in a sustainable manner, it requires considerable efforts from different stakeholders. It also showed the retention basin could be a possible option in the current situation to adapt with urban flooding problems in Can Tho.

Citation

Republished in part with permission from   Quan, N. H., Phi, H. L., Tran, P. G., Pathirana, A., Radhakrishnan M. and Quang, C. N. X. (2014). Urban retention basin in developing city: from theoretical effectiveness to practical feasibility. In: 13th International Conference on Urban Drainage, 7-14 September, Sarawak, Malaysia.

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