Our ACE TEAM 8 CIRT Competition Submission - submitted March 8th, 2016

 

 

ACE TEAM 8 CIRT NARRATIVE

SHORELINE DESIGN CHALLENGE

Resilient Islambag
Dhaka, Bangladesh

March 8, 2016

 

Project Overview:

             Every year during the months of July to September, Islambag is forced to rebuild itself in the aftermath of heavy floods and monsoons. Families are forced to rebuild their homes from the salvage. Disease and injuries are rampant and, without medical facilities, thousands die every year. An economy dependent on agriculture is stagnated as more than half the crop is destroyed and unnecessary amounts of resources are consumed to rebuild the city. The people of Islambag, who have to rebuild every year, are left without a steady livelihood. Thus, with the interest of Islambag and its people, and the funding of companies that have a stake in Islambag's development, we hope to remedy this problem.

For the C.I.R.T Competition, ACE Team 8 decided to re-design and reinvigorate the shoreline of Islambag, a city within the province of Dhaka, Bangladesh. We decided on this location because it is in desperate need of repair and rehabilitation because every flood season (spring-summer), Islambag is completely destroyed. Our goal is for Islambag to be well protected from floods while incorporating new technologies to advance a city that is deeply rooted in the past. We believe the design of Islambag’s shoreline will allow the area to see unprecedented growth, which will in turn allow the area to grow socioeconomically. Our intention in rebuilding the shoreline is not to replace the existing community, but to allow the community to positively use the resources they are afforded, without the worry of having to move away from the area.

Our hope was to build a shoreline that can protect the citizens of Islambag from having to constantly move away from their homes every flood season, and allows Islambag to return to full functionality soon after the water from a flood has receded.

Team 8 decided to include ideas from similar flood mitigation and preventive measures in areas such as Holland and England. We feel that by revitalizing the shoreline of Dhaka, the area will be able to flourish and grow more than it ever has.

History of Dhaka:

Located along the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, even when initially settled, was full of prosperity. After becoming the capitol of the Mughal Empire in 1610, Dhaka experienced rapid growth, allowing it to become an empire of trade, filling it with innovation and technological expansion. Despite the prosperity Dhaka saw, by 1666 a decline in Dhaka’s importance began, even though the then infamous British East India Company had set up a trading post along the shores of Dhaka. By 1704, the Mughals moved the capitol out of Dhaka. From the 18th to the 19th century, Dhaka remained under control of the British East India Company, mostly exporting tea, bamboo, sugar cane and spices. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, Dhaka began to see social reform, allowing many to be exposed to a unique blend of religious reformers, scholars, writers and artists. By the early 20^th century, it was decided that the large Bengal region would be divided into East Bengal and West Bengal, Dhaka being the capital of East Bengal. This partition only lasted about seven years, eventually being abolished because of negative sentiments. By the time the nation of Pakistan was formed, the people of what would become Bangladesh were tired of oppressive rule and harsh laws. Finally, by 1971 the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was formed.

Today, Dhaka is part of a democracy with an overwhelming population of 15 million people. Dhaka contains a vibrant culture, filled with many religions, as well as a strong educational program. Despite the abundance of people, culture, and transportation, Dhaka is faced annually with devastating floods. For many years, Dhaka has poured resources into mitigating the effects of flood damage, as well as preventing destructive flooding. Despite Dhaka’s efforts, not enough has been done to prevent flooding in an ever-burgeoning society.

Power Systems:

As Dhaka floods, one large problem faced by many of its residents is loss of power. As Team 8 delved further into the discussion of power, one solution we found was using flood-adaptable power systems.  One large problem that currently affects many citizens of Dhaka is the lack of power grids, and the poor management of the ones that are currently being used. Another statistic, taken from the Dhaka Times, states that only 62% of Dhaka’s population has access to power throughout the year. When Team 8 first began to discuss short term solutions to Dhaka’s power situation, we discussed constructing more power grids in order for a larger percentage of the population to have access to power. Another large problem our group saw was that Dhaka, more specifically Islambag, currently has almost no protection from flooding, which can easily be a reason why power grids are destroyed during even the smallest flood. By placing power systems at higher ground and with more barriers to protect the grid during a flood, Islambag would not have to replace its energy infrastructure at the end of each flood season. A simple solution to protect the wires that transfer the electricity to other areas of Dhaka would be using PVC insulated wiring, often times used in America, to prevent the wires from water damage. Another solution would be the use of flexible, liquid-tight metal conduits, which would prevent wires from extreme water damage in the case of a flood. This seemingly simple idea can be very beneficial in protecting mission-critical power systems.
                As for long-term solutions, one possible solution is the use of hydropower systems. Hydropower is the use of either falling water, or in Islambag’s case, fast running water that can be used to create energy. Since Islambag and its surrounding area are too close to sea level for a hydropower system to effectively work, the system could be placed up North, closer to the border of Bangladesh and India, where the higher altitude would allow hydropower to be effectively used. The power created in Bangladesh’s northern border can then be transported to areas all over Dhaka, especially those that are in desperate need of energy.

Flood adaptable construction

Humans have been adapting to their environments throughout history by developing practices, cultures and lives suited to local conditions, such as building homes on stilts to protect against monsoonal rains. However, climate change raises the possibility that existing societies will experience climatic shifts (in temperature, storm frequency, flooding and other factors) that previous experience has not prepared them for.

People have been coming up with new ways to prevent these floods which must be built the right way in order for the structure to do what it is meant to do. People in Dhaka must work hard after the flood season in order to make sure they are fully prepared and ready for when the flood season comes again.

Dhaka experiences local intense rainfall, huge upstream inflows and cyclone induced surges, as well as mass flooding that breach the protective wall that surrounds Dhaka. These floods cover 60% of the mainland areas and towns.

After the flooding season is over, the people of Dhaka must work together in order to rebuild many of the structures that were destroyed by flooding. Materials such as bamboo, sand, and sheets of thin steel are used in re-building these destroyed homes. These materials are all cheap and are of low quality. Businesses and factories, on the contrary, use better quality supplies such as brick, cement, rods, steel and concrete for the base and support.

In order for Dhaka to maintain a better city and society, it must use stronger, denser, and thicker materials, just like the ones used by factories, in order to prevent structures being damaged or destroyed by even the smallest flood. As of now the protective wall is only five to six feet high. The people must use the materials they have and expand the wall, with better support, to prevent destructive waters from entering Dhaka, and more specifically, Islambag.

For buildings and homes, cement should be used as a binder material, brick as a filler material, and steel bars as an extra support in the concrete, otherwise known as reinforced concrete.

Water Contamination

Overview

Bangladesh has had a history of poor water quality and management. Latrine usage is minuscule with only about 16% of the rural areas having access to it. The death rate due to water contamination has killed over 100,000 children in the past year alone. The distribution of clean and ample water has been a priority in the Bangladesh government since the late 70s, when a project to lessen the dependency on contaminated surface water took place. This included constructing over 10 million wells. Later, new problems arose such as high arsenic concentration contaminating the well-water leaving many without clean water. This has caused many of those who depended on the well water to source back to unprotected, often contaminated ponds, ditches, etc. These unsafe methods have led to greater outbreaks of water related diseases. Aside from the rural water crisis, overpopulation and lack of sanitation have created a similar issue in Bangladesh's urban environment. Many of those who once lived in the rural area of Bangladesh have migrated to the slums in hope of earning higher wages to support their families. Instead of solving the problem by moving out of areas with little to no clean water, overcrowding, poor housing, poverty, and poor methods of disposing of waste, this economic migration has exasperated the water contamination crisis in Bangladesh.

Arsenic Water Contamination

Arsenic contamination is an ongoing epidemic in Bangladesh that has been described as 50 times worse than the Chernobyl disaster, and is affecting up to half of the 150 million people that currently live in Bangladesh. This arsenic breakout began when wells were dug in an effort to provide clean drinking water to those who did not have access to it. Some 10 million wells were dug, and inadvertently tapped into arsenic deposits in the ground, releasing the tasteless toxin into the water supply. Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations in the world with about half the population earning a meager wage of 1 USD per day. This is largely why many argue that it is up to international parties to solve this epidemic of water contamination. Bangladesh is about half the size of Iowa, but manages to squeeze half the U.S. population within its borders. With that in mind, the United Nations in conjunction with the Bangladeshi government had proposed a plan to provide safe drinking water to all in 2011. But even with that, estimates say at least 20 million people will still be exposed to arsenic laced water. The solution to the problem could be as simple as digging past the arsenic contaminated levels, but even that is beyond the affordable level for most people living in Bangladesh. Another explored option was to start introducing filters in the wells. Once again, this is out of reach to one of the poorest populations in the world.

Dhaka mainly runs on a system of road transportation using buses, bikes, cars, taxis, etc. Every year the roads are vulnerable to flooding and damage. The population is rising up to 22-25 million by the year 2020. This also means that traffic conditions on the streets will see increased crowds of vehicles and people. Possible solutions for flood adaptable transportation during a flood event:

·         Elevating some parts of the ground to create a walkway - Walkways are solutions to flooding in Venice. This is a temporary, but quick and effective, solution. Based on some pictures of these walkways, we will have to create walkways that can accommodate more people because as we know, the population of Dhaka is increasing and narrow walkways will not be able to accommodate everyone in case of a flood. These walkways will need to be at least two feet above the ground.

·         Systems of Bridges - Bridges could be a long term solution as long as we make them stable. Although they are long term solutions to transportation, they can take a long time to construct. However, they are a good investment because they can accommodate more people than walkways.

·         Boating transportation - Boats are a good solution to transportation during flooding because of their ability to carry a lot of materials and their speed to get to another location during flooding. The duration of construction of a boat depends on the boat that you are creating. Boating transportation is considered a long term solution because boats are reusable.

Materials to be used for these solutions

·         One popular material that can be used to create walkways and boats/canoes is bamboo. There is a surplus of bamboo that exists in Dhaka. It is a really strong material that can make boats/walkways stable enough to carry people and materials. It is a cost effective solution as well since there is an abundance of it. The bridge solution on the other hand takes a lot of materials to build and reinforce it, but it is a long term solution.