Can Indian Cities Manage Rivers Better?

The media has reported that illegal construction has been flourishing on the banks of the Yamuna in the National Capital Region (NCR) . Encroachers have built apartments, farmhouses, cottages and bungalows on the river bed and these are being sold cheap. While flats on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway cost between Rs 70 lakh and Rs 1 crore, farmhouses are sold at Rs 50 lakh at the river bed. This is because the legal rights over such land and property are not clear.

Fierce flow

At the time of the recent Chennai floods, some said that illegal construction in the city was a major reason why the floods affected so many people. How can Indian cities manage their rivers better? Let us look at the experience of Boulder, Colorado, which in 1976 faced the biggest flood in the history of Colorado. (The American state's official records on rainfall have existed since 1897.) In three days, Boulder received more rain than in any one month in its history. It is such unusual instances that urban planning has to prepare for.

Gilbert White, an urban flood planning expert, knew that such floods could happen in many cities, though there had been no such event in history. The Chennai floods, for example, followed the heaviest rain in over a century. In a week, the city received the amount of rain the UK receives in a year.

White believed that even though floods were completely beyond the control of human beings, their consequences were largely in the hands of human beings. He guided flood planning in Boulder to apply several measures for the future. Drop structures, which control the velocity of water when it passes down to an area of lower elevation, were created out of rocks in areas where the elevation was low on the river bed. To change the momentum of water in areas where it is likely to be forceful, jagged rocks were placed at strategic points. Such jagged rocks were often placed near bridges, where flood water is likely to cause the greatest damage. Most of the structures that are likely to do harm, such as gas stations, were moved far from the flood plain. Urban-local authorities bought much of the land around the floodplain and left it undeveloped.

Of course, these are not the only measures that would help prevent floods. Economists like Walter Block propose privatising rivers and the land around them. In case of floods, owners of the land are expected to compensate the victims, if the harm caused by private ownership exceeds the harm caused in its absence. However, it is unlikely that such proposals will be implemented in the near future.

Many argue that the fundamental principle behind White's strategy to control floods is about not constructing anything where they shouldn't be constructed.