The sudden and heavy downpour on Sunday that flooded the low-lying Gnanapuram area abutting the Yerrigedda storm water drain appears to be a wake-up call for the authorities who are now considering setting up a regulator to prevent the inundation threats.
With the Yerrigedda receiving unexpected inflows and its water level rising above that of the drains that carry sewage and empty into it, many areas in Gnanapuram were under a sheet of water.
In a span of three hours, the airport area in the city received 9 cm rain while at Waltair, 6 cm precipitation was recorded, according to the officials.
Project details
To prevent the reverse flow from Yerrigedda, the authorities are understood to be considering construction of a regulator on it. As part of the plan, sources say, two of the four drains would be closed and the regulator would be built on the other two. The project is expected to be ready by the monsoon season next year.
Officials say that apart from the regular clearance of garbage and plastic waste from the drains, they have been de-silted as a part of the annual maintenance carried out before the monsoon season. And this had the rain water flowed fast and the Yerrigedda was brimming in half of the time, they explain.
On the other hand, the opening of the tail-end gate of Yerrigedda by the Visakhapatnam Port authorities had the water to flow out.
“During inclement weather, the opening of the gates results in the sea water entering the drain as the high tide condition prevails,” explains a GVMC official.
RFID tagging for waste collection
With the clogging of drain by the imprudent dumping of waste leading to frequent inundation of the nearby areas in the monsoon season, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is set to introduce radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging technology to ensure a strict monitoring on the clearance of garbage in its limit.
During a recent visit to Ward 31 after a wall collapse, Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan said suitcase, bed and etc were found to have dumped into the drain in the area.
The efforts to de-silt and clear the accumulated garbage and plastic in the tail-end areas would have been more effective, if the residents desisted from throwing garbage into drains, he pointed out.
“We intend to step up awareness on segregation of waste and handing it over at the doorstep to improve the garbage collection. As part of the move, the GVMC will soon introduce RFID tagging. It’s a State government initiative and we will soon implement it across the city,” said Mr. Hari Narayanan.
Data analysis
The RFID readers will be installed in the city, which will record data including the quantum of waste collection, date and time, household coverage among others. The information collected from the RFID tags will be uploaded to a database for analysis.
Several small towns have already started implementing RFID tagging, enabling the sanitation workers record the household they collect the garbage from.
