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A Sustainable Drainage System Design in Water-Stricken Brgy. 82 Marasbaras-

Villa Dolina Subdivision, Tacloban City

A Research Study Presented to the Civil Engineering Faculty,

Eastern Visayas State University, Tacloban City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirements for the Subject

CE 563 (Water Resource Engineering)

VINCE M. ARPON, JEFFREY H. BELOY, MARIA CHUNA L. BRISO, LORELYN D. LOREZO

MANILYN RELOSA, LYRA MAE C. YONGZON

ABSTRACT

Drainage plays a very important consideration in planning roads and building structures to avoid damage
due to water runoff and to prevent the adverse effects of pluvial flooding. As a basic principle, drainage
system must be properly designed to efficiently and safely convey the runoff within its corresponding
catchment area. One of the many barangays in the City of Tacloban where the researchers have chosen to
conduct the study is in Brgy.82 Marasbaras-Villa Dolina, Tacloban City. Due to rising development of
house buildings and other structures in the area, some of the drainage systems facilities are difficult to
meet the current storm water runoff, hence leads to inundation. This prompted the researchers to embark
into finding ways on how to alleviate flood and logging of water in the area. Thus, the main objective of
the study was to design a sustainable drainage system of adequate capacity to control flood water from
overflowing to the roads and households and to evaluate the adequacy of the existing drainage systems
whether it is enough to carry storm water or not. This in turn can greatly help the residents of the
barangay as well as business owners to be spared from flooding. Rational Method was used to compute
for the peak discharge. Moreover, Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS), being one of the
best GIS tool in the free and open-source community was used by the researchers to delineate the
catchment area and its sub-catchments, and compute the run-off. Manning‘s equation was used to
compute drainage facility cross section, and discharge capacity. The use of rational method in the
calculation of the design peak discharges for the catchment resulted in a 10-year return period for a
maximum peak discharge was 1.604 m 3 /s . Results showed that out of the twenty-six (26) sub-
catchments, two (2) cross-sectional dimensions prevails the design of the drainage system obtained from a
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10-year return period. The result recommends the locality if the need to construct additional drainage
facilities for the existing drainage systems will be needed to address the said flooding from the study area.

The use of rational method in the calculation of the design peak discharges for the catchment resulted in a
10-year return period for a maximum peak discharge was 1.604 m 3 /s . The main canal towards the outlet
of the catchment is calculated to have a maximum capacity of 7.35 m3/s. This is only 35% of the peak
discharge of the storm with a two-year return period. Improvement of the drainage system could be
achieved by a) increasing the capacity of main canal and/or b) providing an additional outlet from
identified flood-prone areas. The improvement could be further analyzed and evaluated in succeeding
hydrologic studies.

INTRODUCTION

Water is vital for sustaining life, promoting development and maintaining the environmental
safety. However, it can also be invasive when it flows. Flood is an example of a phenomena in which
water can be of great nuisance to human life. It is an overflow of water that submerges the land which is
normally dry. Flooding in some residential areas can cause a lot of negative effects. It provides
inconvenience to the people living in that certain locality. This kind of natural disaster can damage a
number of properties including vehicles, houses, and other infrastructures. It is not just destructive, but it
can also be harmful to health.

Flooding of urban areas is a worldwide problem as cities grow and the amount of impermeable
surfaces increase generating more surface runoff. Existing storm water drains are typically not capable of
handling such increases in runoff, therefore, greater volumes of water are left on the surface. The reason
for flooding in most areas can be attributed to the increased runoff resulting from land-use change,
particularly the increase in impermeable surfaces. Also, lack of any upgrade or maintenance of the
drainage system implies that the system can no longer sustain the runoff volumes.

Tacloban, a first class highly urbanized city in the Philippines, lies along the typhoon corridor. It
has a population of approximately 250,000 making it the most populated city in Eastern Visayas. Rapid
industrialization, dumping of garbage in waterways and poor drainage system maintenance are among the
many causes of flooding which are quite evident in Tacloban. Due to urban development, green lands are
replaced by impervious roofs, roads and parking lots, which reduce the capacity of the surface to absorb
water that increases the velocity of flow and decreases the concentration time of surface runoff. In that
way has worsened flooding in every parts of Tacloban.
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One of the many barangays in Tacloban City facing this kind of seemingly usual issue is at Barangay 82,
formerly Marasbaras. Barangay 82 is located at the southern portion of Tacloban, 3.6 kilometers away
from the downtown area and shares a common border with the following barangays, Barangay 80,
Barangay 81, and Barangay 96 (Calanipawan). It has a population of 1,229 as determined by the 2015
census. Thus, represented 0.51% of the total population of Tacloban City. Barangay 82 is situated at
approximately 11.1913, 125.0033, in the island of Leyte. Elevation at these coordinates is estimated 5.1
meters or 16.7 feet above mean sea level. Figure I shows the satellite view of Brgy. 82 Marasbaras,
Tacloban City.

There is an existing drainage system in some parts of Brgy. Marasbaras specifically in Villa
Dolina, but shows gap to its functionality because during heavy rainfall, the water starts overflowing.
Instead for the water to be drained through inlets or drain holes, the water tends to build up quickly which
causes flood. Residents thought about how an abrupt presence of flood happen even in little rain. This
pressing event brings risk to the community upon entering and leaving the barangay. The proper
maintenance of the drainage system is also a major factor to its functionality but is not given that much
attention and importance. Drainage structures can be less sufficient when contained with granular
materials caused by erosion and other unwanted materials like garbage can potentially lead to clogging
and among these, are more factors in question. The explicit cause of flood is rainwater and runoff, now
the situation only becomes drastic when what’s left to a drainage structure’s capacity to work is hindered
by its functionality. Hence, a study is needed in order to investigate the hydrological factors responsible
for flooding the specified area to be able to come up with recommended improvements.

Figure 1. Satellite View of Brgy.82 Marasbaras

One of the solutions developed by people to limit flooding was through directing water to an
outlet. Hence, the drainage system (Carulasan et al., 2012). Drainage systems are used as prevention for
the accumulation of water that can lead to flooding. It is designed to drain excess rainwater and
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groundwater from impermeable surfaces such as paved streets, car parks, parking lots, footpaths,
sidewalks, and roofs (Chauhan, 2013). However, as time pass, most of these systems reduce its
functionality and capacity for transferring the runoff flow, and their level of service reduces due to
improper maintenance, inappropriate design, and structural deterioration.

Barangays should adopt the drainage system in order to regulate the flow of water inside or
around the property and convey water to a suitable outlet. Not considering an effective system may cause
all sorts of problems to develop. This is why it is important that every barangay pays attention to any
drainage issues.

The topographic, hydrologic and manmade conditions of an area are the primary contributors of
surface runoff. Considering the geographic placement, the land area of Barangay 82 is of low elevation
which can be a contributing factor to cause flood in the locality. Rainwater runoff from higher elevation
of various surfaces contributed all throughout the catchment area seeking the nearest outlet, plus the
hydrologic conditions of Barangay 82 being in a tropical country all add up to a greater volume of runoff
in the lower elevation. All of these factors are of high potential in generating runoff which explicitly
causes flood.

Having the study area considered, the researchers will be using the Rational Method including its
assumptions was adopted in the study. Moreover, an innovation was the application of GIS in the
process. In determining the peak discharge, rational method was used. DPWH and JICA (2003) states that
the ―idea behind the Rational Method is that if a rainfall of intensity (begins instantaneously and
continues indefinitely, the rate of run-off will increase until the time of concentration (when all of the
watershed is contributing to the flow at the outlet point or point under consideration‖. Needhidasan &
Nallanathel (2013) used the Rational Method on designing a storm water drainage system in India.

With the advancement of technology, the use of GIS in hydrologic studies is now gaining pace. In the
field of hydrology, GIS was used in the computation of storm water drainage network (Desai and Patel,
2014), demarcation of drainage network for watersheds (Pragati, D et al., 2012), drainage patterns and
systems (Zhang and Guilbert, 2013), groundwater potential (Rocha, Garcia, & Ribeiro, 2011), hydrologic
models (Simões, 2013), and water quality (Lubrica, 2013). From the review of available literatures, the
application of GIS in the evaluation or design of storm water drainage network is limited. The study was
conducted to evaluate the adequacy of the existing drainage system of the area and recommend
improvements in alleviating the drainage problem. Specifically, the study revealed, area contributory to
the storm run-off, corresponding peak discharges, and the evaluation of the adequacy of existing drainage
systems.
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The primary goal and objective of this study is to prevent flood through improving drainage
system and minimize the improper disposal of garbage which is the greatest factor of excessive flowing
of water. Objectively, the study aims to answer the following questions: (1) What are the physiographic
characteristics of the study area in terms of: (a) Topography-Catchment Area, (b) Rainfall Intensity
Duration Frequency: (2) What is the profile of the ground cover in terms of: (a) Land use (Runoff
Coefficients); (3) What is the total flow generated in terms of peak runoff.

As in one piece, the major concern of this study is the people of Barangay 82. Health and
convenience of the habitants are the points of view. As flooding became one of the serious problems of
the residents during heavy and continuous rains, especially to those living in the low-lying area, the need
to provide most efficient and sustainable storm water drainage system to mitigate the adverse effects of
storm water runoff in Brgy.82 is necessary. In this way, it will be less worry or no more worries
regarding the flood crisis that happens in the area. Likewise, the data accumulated may help the barangay
officials to know the real problem they usually encounter. With this, they will become knowledgeable in
addressing this problem, and avoid such problem. This will also help the whole barangay government to
assure the good flow of work in the barangay.