A System Dynamics Approach to Mitigate Waterlog due to Urban Flood in Jorhat Town, Assam

Abstract

Waterlog due to urban flood is a great threat to the urban population now-a-days. An unplanned city with illegitimate constructions and without proper drainage planning has led to this problem. Problems associated with urban floods range from relatively localized incidents to major incidents, resulting in cities being inundated from a few hours to several days. Therefore, the impact can also be widespread, including temporary relocation of people, damage to civic amenities, deterioration of water quality and risk of epidemics. The study undertakes the waterlog problem of Jorhat town, Assam, India. The paper presents a System Dynamics approach based on the cause and effect analysis and feedback loop structures. Ten factors Rainfall, Water Log, Population, Urbanisation, Cost (health and economy), Waste Material Production, Drainage Construction and Maintenance, Encroachment, Ground Percolation and Drain Capacity are considered for the causal loop diagram. The model runs in Vensim PLE software and the simulated results suggest to construct the poorly developed drains of the town and to minimise drain blockage to mitigate water log for now and coming future.