With the water supply problems in Taoyuan, some have been pointing the finger at ecological engineering, saying that the banks of rivers and streams which present the greatest risk of causing flood damage and ruining reservoirs should be shored up with concrete.
As far as protecting river banks are concerned, the best policy is basically to reduce the speed of the flow of water. The most important of several factors controlling this flow is the degree of friction accorded by the banks, and this is very much an ecological factor. If the sides are too smooth, the water will flow too quickly. If the sides of the river or stream are constructed of concrete, and therefore have smooth sides, the water will travel at something like two or three times the speed it would through its natural banks. Fast-flowing water would more quickly carve through its artificial banks, thereby necessitating the use of more concrete baffles to protect against further erosion.
Not long ago the Fengkang Bridge (
In point of fact, the principle that answers this question was already known by the Chinese engineer Li Bing (
Speaking of concrete, energy-dissipating concrete baffles have been used liberally in engineering projects in the past to protect Taiwan's coast against erosion. This has transformed the face of hundreds of kilometers of the nation's beautiful coastline, making Taiwan look like a true "fortress island." A lot of people believe, erroneously, that these concrete baffles constitute the best solution. But experts have another take on it: Erosion actually occurs faster along the parts of the coastline where these baffles are piled up.
Far from being reduced to salt spray, the power of waves is actually intensified when they encounter these baffles. This can lead to disastrous consequences, as we saw with New Port on Langtao (
Ecological engineering is a wonderful concept, and a very challenging and profound field of study. Like taichi, it seeks ways to conquer force with softness: it is completely different from the practice of using concrete to solve everything, which can be likened more to taekwondo, seeking as it does to counter force with force.
Every time we have this kind of disaster, people blame ecological engineering, using it as a scapegoat in the absence of any ability to conduct an analysis based on the truth. They don't seem to realize that a scientific approach to solving engineering problems should be rooted in learning from the experience of past failures. If we continue like this, what hope does the quality of our engineering, or indeed our living environment, have in the future?
Tzeng Chyng-shyang is an assistant professor in the College of Life Sciences, National Tsing Hua University.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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