Flooding has always been a big problem in Taiwan and as a result of climate change, this issue has become increasingly severe in recent years.
Government efforts to control flooding have consisted mainly of building infrastructure, but despite having spent more than NT$100 billion (US$3.13 billion) on hydraulic engineering projects in the past 10 years, flooding remains a threat across the nation.
In light of the limited effect of these efforts, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency has decided to change its approach.
Instead of focusing on the importance of flood control infrastructure, it is looking into ways to improve regulations on different types of sewer outflow and the responsibilities of land developers for storm-water runoff management and outflow control.
The new strategy, which can be summed up as the sharing of responsibility for storm-water runoff management and outflow controls, aims to avoid overloading the drainage system by improving the management of what is often the source of flooding — storm-water runoff.
The agency has implemented some new rules on outflow control, which include a requirement that new construction projects built on 2 hectares of land or more pass a review on their drainage plans to ensure that they do not increase the surface runoff in the area or exceed the permitted outflow volume.
However, since newly developed land only accounts for a small percentage of all used land, the regulation would have only a very limited effect on flood mitigation.
The government should instead consider introducing a mandatory program requiring all land developers to take responsibility for managing storm-water runoff.
It should also design a system that provides market incentives for developed land with effective flood control practices.
These goals can be achieved by setting down the following rules:
First, construction projects on newly developed land must have a drainage plan that would ensure that there is zero increase in surface runoff within the area and that the runoff remains below the permitted outflow volume.
Second, construction projects on redeveloped land must include an outflow delay system with a capacity to contain at least 50 percent of the permitted outflow volume.
In cases where the developer cannot provide a larger capacity, they can compensate by contributing to a storm-water outflow delay system at another location, by buying storm-water outflow delay credits or paying a government fee.
Third, as for construction projects on developed land where the conditions for an outflow delay system are restricted, the developer should contribute to a storm-water retention system elsewhere, buy storm-water retention credits or pay a fee.
Fourth, the government should encourage private companies to earn storm-water retention credits, which they can then either use or sell.
Additional retention capacity on newly developed land, new retention capacity on redeveloped land created by replacing impervious surfaces with vegetation, and storm-water retention or retention systems in undeveloped areas can all be assigned storm-water storage credits.
The owner of the property can apply to the government for credits to be issued and trade these credits at a market created and supervised by the government in order to facilitate trading.
Yang Chung-hsin is a retired Academia Sinica research fellow.
Translated by Tu Yu-an
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