Having been tested by several typhoons and heavy rainfalls, it is clear that the flood impact areas in Tainan City have been significantly decreased through the concerted team efforts of the Bureau of Water Resources of Tainan City Government. For the happiness of Tainan and to protect citizens from flood risks, the Bureau of Water Resources has proactively implemented an official Flood Control Plan with the goal of “Comprehensive Flood Control for A Better Tainan City”.
The major areas of Tainan City are low-lying, so the drainage system did not operate perfectly in flood conditions. In order to reduce flood risk, since the merger of Tainan City and County in 2011, the Bureau of Water Resources has completed 222 km of revetments, 2 flood water diversions, 21 bridge renovations, 10 detention basins, 42 km of rainwater sewers, 9.2 km of heightened revetments, 287 mobile pumps, 2032 water gates and 50 pump stations. Currently, 68 water level stations, 18 rainfall meter stations and 16 CCTV monitoring devices have been installed. An additional 4 water level stations, 4 rainfall stations and 7 CCTV monitoring devices are planned. In addition, more than 40,000 people downloaded the Tainan Real-time Flood Information Check APP. The Bureau of Water Resources has budgeted 3.7 million dollars to setup and operate community flood prevention groups every year, and 28 such groups have been established to date.
Dedicated efforts to improve flood control have paid off in the wake of typhoons and heavy rainfalls. In 2005, an 8-year flood control project was undertaken supported by an NTD$80 billion fund. On June 12, 2005, flooding covered an area of nearly 18,375 hectares due to the heavy rains. By the end of this project in 2013, the flooding caused by Typhoon Kong-Rey effected an area decreased to 3,310 hectares. After the Regional Drainage Control Project--Phase I was fully launched in 2014, the flooding caused by heavy rains on August 12 effected an area decreased even further to 1,657 hectares. In 2015, due to the huge flood tide, Typhoon Dujuan led to a flood area covering 2,306 hectares. However, within the 2,306-hectare flood area, 2,154 hectares were areas controlled by farms, fish farms or uninhabited regions. On July 8 of 2016, Typhoon Nepartak only left puddles on some roads without any serious floods in Tainan City. As the flood area has significantly decreased year by year, it is believed that the flood control project works wonders.
The Bureau of Water Resources has accomplished an abundance since the flood control project was launched. For example, Jianjyun River and Madou drainage systems totaling 21 km were updated in a NTD$5.5 billion project over 11 years to protect coastal villages from the threat of flood. In addition, because of the partial,inconsistent and unconnected rainwater sewers between the old and new communities in the rapidly developing Yongkang District, the sewers did not function well. The Bureau of Water Resources has progressively put NTD$390 million into connecting the 5 rainwater sewer systems including the ones in Renai Street and Sanmin Street, Dawan East Road 218 Alley and Taizihmiao, Jhongshan Road and Yongda Road, Fuciang Road 1 Section and Jhongshan East Road, Jhonghua 2 Road and Jhonghua Road which contribute to excellent drainage. Additionally, we rebuilt the rainwater sewers in Fuciang Road 1 Section, Renai Street, Dawan East Road 213 Alley, Jhongshan Road, Jhongshan East Road, Jhonghua 2 Road and Jhonghua Road to resolve flooding issues. In the interest of urban development in Sinying, Syuejia, Madou, Rende, Gueiren, Sinhua Districts, we redesigned and evaluated the overall rainwater sewers to improve regional development.
The Bureau of Water Resources is eager to update and improve old, dysfunctional water pumps. Three coastal pumping stations including Mashagou of Jianjyun District, Nankunshen of Beimen District and Keliao had been in operation for over 16 years and been corroded by seawater. In order to improve the pump efficiency, the pump machine sets were updated.
Meanwhile, the Siwei Dahu detention basin, covering 43.5 hectares in Anding District for protection of water resources and the Yinghua detention basin covering 2 hectares in Liouying District can act as recreational parks for people in the future.
The happiness of Tainan City is the ultimate goal of the Bureau of Water Resources. Our team will keep working hard to protect our citizens from the threat of flood.