Drainage tests due to Dubai floods and climate change are failing the world

Last week's floods in Dubai revealed how urban engineering is failing key climate change tests. In a world where extreme weather events are increasingly likely to occur, no matter how large and modern the urban environments around the world are, when there is too much water, there is not enough room for it all.

Cities in the United Arab Emirates and similar cities built in previously uninhabitable areas reflect ideas of 20th century urban development that result in cutting off natural water absorption systems. A growing population brings in more waste, increasing the need for landfills and other waste disposal methods, and major cities around the world, like Dubai, face more frequent and heavy rainfall and drains. issues will continue to plague us.

Last Tuesday, the UAE received more than 10 inches of rainfall in some places, with Dubai at about half that level, an amount comparable to the UAE's average annual rainfall. Rainfall has been frequent in the UAE in recent years and is expected to worsen in the coming years. Last week, claims were made that the UAE's cloud seeding experiment contributed to the rain, but the government told CNBC that was inaccurate, and other experts also dismissed the claims.

What is known is that Dubai was built on sand and its natural environment makes it very easy for water to seep into the soil. But by pouring large amounts of concrete over Dubai's natural topography, developers effectively stopped the soil from absorbing water. Last week's rainfall was the heaviest ever recorded in the country since records began in 1949.

“We have natural drainage sites that bring water directly to aquifers and then into reservoirs,” says architect Ana Arski, CEO of environmental startup 4 Habitos Para Mudar o Mundo. speaks. “Once you pave it, it’s not there anymore,” Erski said.

Rapid population growth along with global urbanization trends has led to an increase in waste, and while trash is not visible on the streets of Dubai, it has to go somewhere, which is less than ideal. It often ends up in a place. Plastic products do not absorb water well, so when they end up in landfills around the world, huge piles of trash contribute to a global backup of natural drainage systems.

Older cities with better drainage systems are facing similar problems, as New York City residents discovered last fall, as daily rainfall reached 5 to 8 inches in some places. Schools, roads and homes have been flooded, and subway and train services have been suspended. . Without proper preparation, man-made drainage channels full of debris and pollution cannot absorb the increased water, leading to backflow and flooding.

“Stormwater drainage systems are not adapted to the flows we are currently seeing due to climate change and highly concentrated rainfall,” said Tiago Marquez, co-founder and CEO of Greenmetrics.AI. Stated. “Drainage systems become saturated and there is no way to drain the water that has recently fallen. This eventually comes to the surface and causes flooding in urban areas, including tunnels and highways.” The lowest parts of the city. ”

Greenmetrics.AI installs sensors and uses data analysis to predict the impact of rainfall and help advise communities on water consumption, and is currently working with public authorities in six Portuguese cities. I am.

Marquez said that when floods occur, residents tend to blame city officials for not cleaning drainage systems properly, but in Porto, Portugal, where severe flooding occurred in several parts of the city last year, the drainage system was not cleaned properly. said that it had been done. “The amount of water was so high and so unusual that basically all the branches and even trash pushed into the drainage system, which was previously clean, and it clogged the drainage system,” Marquez said. . “When this much water starts to accumulate, it becomes very difficult for authorities to know exactly what is happening everywhere at the same time.”

Greenmetrics installs smart sensors equipped with LIDAR, the same technology used to guide self-driving cars, in flood-prone areas to alert when levels get too high to manage. . A better understanding of weather patterns allows authorities to clear drains and debris before flooding occurs. If flooding is unavoidable, this technology can give people time to evacuate or allow leaders to close bases to minimize casualties.

“What used to happen every 100 years will now start happening every 10 years,” Marquez said. “And floods that used to happen once every 10 years are now starting to happen every few years. Adapting to climate change means building resilience technologies.”

Vapar, a startup building sewer drain and pipe inspection robots to spot problems before big storms hit, has partnered with the Australian and UK governments.

Arsky's 4 Habitos Para Mudar o Mundo helps businesses and consumers like AB-InBev and Banco Itaú in Brazil use artificial intelligence to classify waste and minimize its impact on wastewater. This will help you dispose of it in a safe place. We are also working on developing building materials that are strong enough for structures, yet porous enough to absorb water into the local natural soil.

Erski said more frequent flooding in the world's most densely populated environments is a reminder of the underlying message that events like the Dubai floods send to the world: “Climate change has no specific destination. I don't have any.''