Councils need to work fast: Reddy
Municipal councils need to work at the same pace as development to allow for national growth, said Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Waterways Mahendra Reddy. Mr Reddy made these comments at the signing of Memorandum of Agreements for Drainage Maintenance for Municipal Councils 2019 – 2020 business year.
$2.6 million had been allocated by Government for this project. Mr Reddy highlighted the pace at which was required as input by the councils to ensure no disruption on growth at a national level. “Developments in urban areas are of importance for economic growth, however, these developments usually come at a cost and it often disrupts the natural drainage patterns,” Mr Reddy said.
“The natural drainage is distracted and tempered with, landfilling creating changes to drainage directions, filling of flood retention and detention areas, diversion of natural streams to roadside drains and the list goes on. “Land-use changes including increased sealed surface and higher run-off exacerbate the problem. As such, appropriate maintenance and management of urban drains are vital.”
Municipal drainage infrastructures have deteriorated beyond their serviceable life over the years because of its long-standing life. Most of the drains were designed almost 50 years ago, and do not cater for the capacity runoff associated with high-intensity rainfall events we currently experience. Mr Reddy said Government introduced the funding to upgrade the drainage system within the municipal council’s boundaries by providing grants to municipal councils to better manage the municipal drainage system and minimise flooding and safeguard to people, property, and infrastructure.
The funds will be released on a quarterly basis and the municipal councils will be required to submit monthly reports on the progress of the works.
“The conventional drainage system is often designed for singleobjective with all its focus on water quantity control,” Mr Reddy said. “I urge the Municipal councils to move away from this. We need to embrace more deliberately the other important aspects in urban water management, such as runoff quality, visual amenity, recreational value, ecological protection and future runoff from changing climate into today’s drainage solutions.”