THE DUTCH Disaster Risk Reduction team that is on a scoping mission to study recurring flood issues in the Ba and Rakiraki Rivers has identified a number of flood mitigation measures.
According to a Government statement, the team had presented its findings to Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development, Waterways and Environment Minister Dr Mahendra Reddy this week.
The findings consist of a combination of hard and soft measures that need to be implemented in an integrated manner to alleviate flooding issues in these rivers.
While thanking the Government of the Kingdom of Netherlands for the DRR mission, Dr Reddy said that upper catchment planning and activities like retaining water in the upper catchment was vital for flood mitigation in the lower catchment and essentially in the floodplains.
“We need to retain maximum water in the upper catchments through retention dams and off-stream impoundments to attenuate flood peaks in the lower parts of the catchment,” he said.
