Bart Schultz
As part of this program, I was in Palembang for two two-week periods per course. The first time was to teach and have the students work on exercises regarding lowland development, and the second time was to discuss their Master's theses. Midway through the first two weeks, I would take the students for a walk through Palembang on a Saturday morning to view places in the city of importance for water management and flood protection.
Palembang is located in South Sumatra along the Musi River, a few kilometres upstream from the apex of the delta. From time to time, the city faces flooding. A system of canals and retention ponds is situated within the city to handle the heavy rainfall during the wet season. Additionally, the city struggles with silt deposition and significant pollution in the canal system, making continuous cleaning and maintenance necessary.
Flapgates have been installed at the mouths of the urban canals into Musi River to prevent the inflow of river water into the city. Because Palembang is also experiencing a certain degree of land subsidence in various places, the risk of flooding will only increase, and measures will have to be taken in the future to prevent an increase in flooding.
During the lessons, I told the students that in an urban lowland area, you should actually build the houses slightly higher than the gardens, the gardens higher than the footpaths and roads, and finally the parks and public green areas lowest. If you adhere to this, you will have the fewest problems with the houses in the event of flooding caused by heavy rain, unless the flooding is very severe.
The first excess water that cannot be drained in time then accumulates in the parks and public green areas; only then do the roads and footpaths get their turn, and finally the gardens and houses. Another advantage of the houses is often that they stand on pile foundations in lowland areas, causing them to settle less than other parts of the urban area, and the height differences become more favourable over time.
During our walks, at relevant points, I would first discuss with the students how they thought the water flowed through the city and how this could be clearly seen at the various locations. This often led to lively discussions, as they had generally not looked at it that way before. Incidentally, one could not blame them for this, as over the years it has become clear to me that many people, including those working in the sector, often lack this simple insight.
In Palembang, another factor was that roads had been raised from time to time in several places, causing them to be higher than the adjacent houses. During a heavy downpour, water would therefore simply flow from the road into the gardens and, in several cases, into the houses as well. In that respect, a simple walk is quite educational.
We also observed significant silt deposits, contamination, and neglected maintenance in the canals and retention ponds. We were therefore able to discuss, and later elaborate on, what annual management and maintenance would be required to get things in order. I subsequently had them develop this further in a form of groupwork or in their Master's thesis. In many countries, the focus is primarily on building things, but not so much on managing and maintaining them properly. All in all, these walks provided a great deal of practical insight, which we could further develop in the course.
Many of these students joined various government agencies after graduation. I therefore hope that they actually put what they have learned into practice.
