Engineer stresses on water management as part of social sector

Guwahati, Jun 19 (UNI) Next time an artificial flood creates havoc in a city, the government should try to emulate the Bangkok model.

The Thai capital long faced the problem of water logging after a shower, but with good planning and effective implementation, Bangkok can easily withstand 24 hours of non-stop rain without a single street getting waterlogged.

The city had faced massive artificial floods after an upper part of the Bangkok basin was encroached, but with the new drainage system in place, rains do not throw life out of gear anymore.

This was pointed out by Prof. Ashim DasGupta, adjunct professor of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, from his long association with the water management programme of Bangkok, started more than 30 years back.

Guwahati, with its natural wetlands, stands in a good position to control the artificial floods, which have emerged as a major concern for the city, he said.

He is in the city to deliver the 11th H P Barua Memorial Lecture on the topic 'Education and Research in Water Science and Engineering in a Changing Global Environment', at the Institute of Engineers' tomorrow.

Interacting with the press today, Prof DasGupta said, ''Water resource management cannot be pursued in isolation. It is a part of the social sector.'' He was a member of the UNESCO's water resource engineering body, which had for the first time included water resource management as an integral part of social sector.

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