Oh, Flood!

Oh, Flood .....

I studied water engineering and hydraulics as subjects while going through civil engineering degree course at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, decades ago. Dealing with dams, drainage, catchment area on a bigger scale has little resemblance with drainage on a little plot of ours... Heavy rainfalls from time to time, point out the way surface water move around our plot .... Sometime last year, january I think, there was a 6 inches poodle at the edge of the dry yard ( the place we hang cloths) .... Luckily the minor flood didnt stay long ......

So we do have varying wetness of soil throughout the plot, now made very pronounced with the shade of banana and papaya plant ... The wetter part is very natural to banana and pandan .... and zephyr lily likes it too ..... But serai or lemongrass love sandier and drier part...

This is a rough sketch of the way surface water move around our plot ....., it shows how the housing developer plans for surface water to get into drains, so the ground level is sloping towards those ..... So we went to the extend of adjusting the raised beds and the locations so that they are in tune with this requirement .....

layout
a little sketch to help us understand about surface water
and becomes a guide
what and where to plant
according to the moisture content of the soil
and at the same time not to hinder
the designed surface water flow
towards the drains.

surface run off
will get into this and flow down the drain underneath

Yes, water is crucial to living things, but thousands are lost in floods worldwide, every year .... For our plot in Putrajaya, we would rather redefine flood as just water ponding..... That will make us a lot happier........ How's your plot?