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Blocked Drains Syndrome: Physical Degradation of the Storm Drainage System

in a Compact City

Article in Advanced Science Letters · February 2017

DOI: 10.1166/asl.2017.8388

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 RESEARCH ARTICLE
Copyright © 2017 American Scientific Publishers Advanced Science Letters
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Vol. 23, 1407–1411, 2017

Blocked Drains Syndrome: Physical Degradation of

the Storm Drainage System in a Compact City
Dedimuni Charmaine Nadeesha Chandrasena1 ∗ , Khamaruzaman Bin Wan Yusof1 ,
Veranja Chandima Liyanapathirana2 , Muhamad Raza Ul Mustafa1 , and Zahiraniza Mustaffa1
1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 32610, Perak, Malaysia
2
Department of Microbiology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

This concept paper describes the behavior of a clogged drain in an event of a heavy rainfall. Solid waste
accumulates in drainage systems, heavy rainfall, increased runoff volume and stagnation of runoff flow could
collectively lead to sudden flash floods in compact cities. Events leading up to a flash flood attack in a city show
a marked similarity to the cascade of events leading to a heart attack. Accumulation of fat in coronary arteries
restricts the blood flow to the cardiac tissue. When the arterial occlusion is beyond a critical level, myocardial
death occurs. This condition is commonly known as a “heart attack.” The clinical solution for this is known
as coronary artery bypass grafting. As such, this paper urged for a novel technical solution which, could be
introduced to reroute stagnated water flow in a clogged drain with the objective of treating the socioeconomic
impact of “Blocked Drains Syndrome.”

Keywords: Clogging, Blocked Drains, Flashflood Attack, Heart Attack, Coronary Arteries Bypass Grafting,
Smart Storm Drainage, Solid Waste.

1. INTRODUCTION not bound to provide basic infrastructure facilities such as water

1.1. Why Drainage Fails in Compact Cities and power supply, garbage collection and storm drainage main-
One-fourth of the world’s urban population lives in informal tenance. Therefore, the settlers have no proper place to dis-
settlements.1 The majority of the informal settlements spread in pose garbage instead of the nearby open of spaces and roadside
hazard-prone areas in low-lying lands due to higher property reservations.
prices. As UN-Habitat estimated in the World’s Cities 2012/2013 This paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, concept of
report, this tendency is expected to grow in the next decades since the blocked drains syndrome thoroughly explained. In Section 3,
increasing migration rates of low-income immigrants into cities. experimental scenario pertaining to the research is presented. The
Settlers in informal habitats hit hardest from natural hazards, experimental results, case study analysis and the discussion are
especially flash floods that may attack an area without pre- also presented in Section 4. Finally, our intention of this paper is
warning.2 Storm water runoff control is the crucial purpose of summarized in the conclusion.
any urban drainage system. The inadequacy of which, is consid-
ered as the main cause of flash floods.3–6 Unplanned urbanization
2. CONCEPT OF BLOCKED
and rapid development taking place in compact cities have cre-
ated complicated issues in storm water management. On the one DRAIN SYNDROMME
hand, solid waste leads to street floods and it will again generate 2.1. Observed Physical Characteristics of a Low
a massive stock of solid waste as flood debris.4 Income Urban Settlement in a Compact City
Tucci7 has examined issues pertaining to the drainage system The informal settlements in low and lower middle income coun-
in third world countries of the humid tropical climatic region for tries has comprised with unique spatial features with compared
decades. According to his research findings, the majority of the to other areas. These areas have a considerably higher building
urban squatter settlements scattered in low-lying areas which are density. Exterior building strip often faced to an access road but it
highly environmentally sensitive reservations most of the times. did not network throughout the area since it has been encroached
These shelters made out by improvised building materials and at many parts. Sideway building line usually located on a river
constructed without legality.4 7 8 Hence, Municipal authorities bank, canal bank or edges of a receiving water body. Natural and
artificial drainage paths are usually being encroached or blocked
by illegal structures. Hence, storm water did not drain away grad-
∗
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. ually after a rainfall.

Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 23, No. 2, 2017 1936-6612/2017/23/1407/005 doi:10.1166/asl.2017.8388 1407
RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 1407–1411, 2017

Many researchers specifically mentioned about how the urban 2.2. The Blocked Drains Syndrome
forms correlates with the personal behavior. As Handy9 pointed Blocked Drains Syndrome is a physical disorder creates by
out, built environment has a significant influence on the behavior blocked storm drainage system in low lying flood prone area of
of people. People, who live in compact and congested settle- a city. A group of symptoms, for instance solid waste accumu-
ments, suffer immensely from the scarcity of productive space. lated drainage, heavy rainfall event, increased runoff volume and
Most of the time, they lives on or closer to the open drainage short flood peak times consistently occur together and lead to a
line. Due to the limited mobility caused by the immediate sur- massive flood impact in the obligated area.
roundings, they adapted to a finite routing though it again leads
to a massive set of social and environmental issues. People often 2.3. The Symptoms and Signs of the Syndrome
dispose household garbage, gray water, sewerage and other throw
2.3.1. Arterial Blockages
away materials to the nearby open drain. It has observed that the
Occlusion of the arteries in the heart muscles, as well as the
drainage lines found under their shelters was always filled with
drainage system in a compact city, has the same causal factors
waste particles and gray water.
People lives in and around the tenement garden, have not pro- of its fatalist inefficiency. Misbehavior of humans causes dam-
vided with door to door garbage collection service. They usually ages and blockages in both vascular system and urban drainage
dump household waste at the nearby garbage collection points. system.
These points often equipped with medium size waste contain- Epidemiological studies have provided clear evidence to asso-
ers, which capacity varies from 0.25 ton to 0.5 tons. However, ciate smoking and bad food habits with almost all forms of the
in most cases, Municipal councils provide permanent collection arterial disease.10 Medical researchers have confirmed that dam-
points constructed by cement and bricks, which not exceeds 2 m3 age to the innermost lining of blood vessels, the endothelium,
in capacity. Generally, this capacity not sufficient to accommo- and endothelial dysfunction is mainly due to human misbehav-
date whole amount of waste dumped in to a respective collection iors. Causal factors such as tobacco combustion products, high
point. Hence, haphazardly dumped waste bags make havoc around blood cholesterol, sugar levels and high blood pressure are the
the municipal garbage collection points located in informal set- initiators for the cascade of events leading to arterial occlusion.
tlements (see Fig. 1). Provision of additional waste containers is Endothelial damage and dysfunction lead to the accumulation
again not a proper solution, since the scarcity of effective roadside and activation of platelets and monocytes. As Powell10 men-
space and the inefficiency of the collection services. tioned, harmful changes occurring within these cells, possibly
Municipal garbage collectors unload the waste containers and leads to the accumulation of fat and further cells within a lattice-
emptying the bricked containers once a day, but it is not possible shaped fiber network of the extra-cellular matrix. This builds up
to keep the place fully clean until their next visit. Uncollected could be equated with a collection of waste material. As the
and dropped waste matter normally destined at nearest open drain plaque builds up, the arterial lumen slowly narrows and the wall
especially, after a mild rainfall. Generally, the municipal work- hardens. Moreover, it minimizes the full capacity of the blood
ers not cleaning the roadside drains or clear the drainage line vessel (see Fig. 2).
blockages since their main focus only on the waste collection Damaged arteries cannot deliver adequate blood supply to
service. Clogged waste particles in the micro drainage channels the heart muscles or the myocardium.10 A sufficient myocardial
flushed frontward, up to the secondary and primary drainage blood supply is crucial for the delivery of oxygen and nutrients
channels as a result of a heavy rain. Due to this, the nearest water for the cells. Furthermore, for the removal of waste products like
body receives massive stock of uncollected municipal garbage. lactic acid and oxygen free radicals. Partial arterial blockage and
This leads to decrease its effective basin capacity and become a the subsequent damages to heart muscles are known as ischemia.
probable cause of a sudden flashflood attack even during a mild When the arterial occlusion is beyond a critical level and the
rainfall. blood supply to a given region ceases and myocardial death or
infection occurs, leading to the situation commonly identified as
a heart attack.

Fig. 1. Garbage dumping point at Khira Nagar Industrial Estate, Mumbai,

India. Fig. 2. Blocked coronary artery.
Source: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-heres-how-bandra-khar- Source: http://www.kumed.com/heart-care/diseases-and-treatments/coro-
santacruz-residents-cleaned-up-their-act/15907189#sthash.vW7y7ZXQ.dpuf. nary-artery-disease.

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Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 1407–1411, 2017 RESEARCH ARTICLE

2.3.2. Drainage Line Blockage 3. METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH

Events leading up to a flash flood attack show a marked similar- Three experimental scenarios were created which replicates the
ity to the cascade of events leading to a heart attack. Haphazard present situation of the micro drainage system described in the
dumping of solid waste makes drainage an extremely complicated literature. Roughness coefficient values pertaining to the each
issue for compact cities. Urban drainage systems in these cities case were obtained from the Manning’s “n” values suggested
are often filled with garbage and sediments (see Fig. 3). Settlers by Chow15 for different drainage conditions which stated in the
tend to dump their solid waste into the nearest drain.5 11 This in Table III.
turn decreases its effective drainage capacity.12 Blocked drainage The total litter load in a clogged drainage channel was cal-
causes overflowing of runoff water and stagnation in low-lying culated and the effective drainage capacity pertaining to the
areas of the cities. At a heavy rainfall event, it cannot discharge case study area was determined accordingly. Then, the effective
runoff water to the receiving water bodies on time. Breaking the drainage discharge rates Qc of each experimental scenario were
smooth flow of discharging runoff water will happen throughout calculated and the peak runoff rate Qr of the given sub catch-
the system. This situation increases water stagnation, peak flow ment was computed. All the values (Qc and Qr  were compared
disorders and decreases the flood peak attaining time of the runoff in order to find the magnitude of the clogging effect and the
flow. This is when a sudden flash flood attack occurs. effective drainage capacity in an event of a moderate rainfall.
In medicine, Coronary artery bypass grafting is used to restore,
blood flow to the heart muscle by diverting the flow of blood 3.1. Calculate the Clogging Percentage of the
around the blocked section of an artery. With Smart Storm Micro Drainage Line
Drainage concept, it designed a second channel to divert runoff The total litter load clogged in micro drainage channels is given
water to make an uninterrupted flow. Installation of smart storm as Ref. [16] 
drainage unit to a selected point of a clogged drainage system is T = fsci vi + Bi  · Ai (1)
very similar in principle to re-routes the blood flow of the heart
by bypassing the blocked regions. where T is the yotal litter loads clogged in micro drainage chan-
nels (m3 /yr), fsci is the street cleaning factor each land use (this
number varies from 1.0 for regular street cleaning to about 6.0 for
2.4. Economy of Blocked Drain Syndrome
non-existent/complete collapse of service), Vi is the vegetation
Storm water runoff control is the key purpose of any urban load for each land use (varies from 0.0 m3 · ha · yr to poorly veg-
drainage system. The Inadequacy of which is considered as one etated areas to about 0.5 m3 · ha · yr for densely vegetated areas),
of the main causes of street floods which leads to flash flood.2 3 13 Bi is the basic litter load for each land use and Ai is the area of
The costs of street floods are high. It adversely impacts on peo- the each land use (ha).
ple’s lives, assets and the economic productivity. As City of Texas However, the constant values assigned in the original formula
Austin Urban Drainage manual stated14 tangible costs such as, were slightly modified to fit with the objectives of this study.
destruction of buildings and physical infrastructure, mechanical The original formula developed by Armitage and Rooseboom16
failures of vehicles, and the cost of health care are considered as put more weightage on commercial and industrial waste circulat-
crucial facts which causes most economic losses. It also involved ing in the area but the present study thoroughly focused on the
a considerable amount of intangible damages, for instance, aes- residential waste that circulate in the settlements of the compact
thetically unpleasant environments, spreading of vector-borne cities. Hence, the value of Bi , basic litter load for each land use
diseases, congestion and traffic flow diversion. These symptoms was reweighted as follows taking into consideration the average
are considered as the consequences of doing nothing and will Municipal solid waste generation rate and the basic litter load
expose an unprepared city into long-term risks of floods. left uncollected in the different settlement areas. These values
extracted from the literature pertaining to this study.5 17

3.2. Calculate the Effective Drainage Discharge Rates

Effective discharge rate of the micro drainage line which serves
the study area is given as;

1
QC = AR2/3 S 1/2 (2)
n
Qc = effective discharge capacity of the drain m3 /s
n = Roughness coefficient pertains to the micro drain
A = effective unit area of the flow (m2 )

Table I. Values assigned for basic litter load uncollected for each set-
tlement (Bi ).

Low income informal settlements 05

Middle income condominium settlements (high-rises) 03
Middle income condominium settlements 03
(single units-attached)
Fig. 3. Clogged micro drainage at Dhaka, Bangladesh. Common settlement area located in the urban rural fringe 02
Source: http://globalchallenge.mit.edu/problems/view/69.

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RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 1407–1411, 2017

Table II. Total litter load in the drain. Table IV. Peak runoff rate pertaining to different rainfall intensities.

Total litter load in 502 + 0516539 = 579 m

3
Rainfall intensity (mm/hr) Qr (m3 /s)
the drain
20 007
Total drainage capacity 151.52 m × 0.45 m × 0.3 m = 2045 m3 19 007
% clogged 27%–30% 18 006
17 006
16 006
15 005
P = effective wetted perimeter (m) 14 005
R = effective hydraulic radius (m) 13 004
12 004
S = bed gradient of the drainage. 11 004
10 003
9 003
3.3. Calculate the Peak Runoff Pertaining to a 8 003
Given Area 7 002
6 002
The Rational formula is used to compute the peak runoff rate at 5 002
the point of design. 4 001
1 3 001
Qr = CiA (3) 2 001
360 1 000
where,
Qr = peak runoff at the point of the design (m3 /s)
C= runoff coefficient Calculated results pertaining to the equation 01, has showed
I= average rainfall intensity (mm/hr)
the drainage channels situated in the case study area carried
A= catchment area (ha). about 30% litter capacity throughout the year. It is clear that the
drainage channel situated in the case study area cannot handle
3.4. Description of the Case Study Area the overland flow generated by rainfall intensities greater than
The selected sub catchment is located in Madampitiya GN divi- 5 mm/hr since it exceeds the present carrying capacity of the
sion of Colombo 15, Sri Lanka. This is an informal settlement drainage channel (see case 01, Table III).
area with 1.6539 ha land parcel where nearly 75% of the land is In this situation, micro drainage channels tend to overflow eas-
occupied by low income housing units. The micro drainage chan- ily even after a mild rainfall which brings 5 mm/hr rain. If the
nel of this area is 151.52 m long, 0.45 m deep and 0.3 m wide case study area receives a rainfall greater than this intensity
and is present uniformly along the channel. The area receives (5 mm/hr), it may results an intense flash flood attack followed
average rainfall intensity of 20 mm/hr. by blocked drainage channels.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 5. DISCUSSION

According to the total litter load computation mentioned in Blocked Drain Syndrome can socially and economically paralyze
Table II, the micro drainage channels located in the sub catch- an unprepared city at any moment. These types of socio-
ment area are clogged with solid waste and sediment for about economic losses cannot easily bear by the vast majority of com-
30% of its capacity throughout the year. Hence the effective pact cities. Therefore, compact cities with inefficient drainage
drainage capacity is computed as 70% of the total drainage infrastructure should have to prepare to handle upcoming natural
capacity. Effective drainage discharge rates pertaining to the each disaster risks.
case are figured in Table III. If the drainage channel is clogged Dredging and cleaning are a conventional method which
about 30% of its total capacity, its discharge rate decreased into used to clear a clogged storm drainage channel. It involves
a very low level (0.01 m3 /s) due to the reduction of the effective heavy machinery, for example, hydro-pneumatic flow jets, metal-
drainage capacity and the increase of the resistance to the flow lic strings, rollers and vacuum tankers.18 Since this process is
(Manning’s n). Perfect drainage scenario or the control case was manually operated, it also involves much manpower and time.
mentioned in case 3, which was able to convey a flow rate fif- As Parkinson18 mentioned, the manual cleaning efficiency of a
teen times greater than the clogged drainage scenario. However, clogged drainage channel is about 15 km/per month.
this cannot be achieved in a practical state since the unavoidable New urbanists believe that they can change the human behav-
sedimentation and the clogging effects. ior through design. The situation discussed above, pertains to
Table IV represents the changes of the peak runoff rates with the informal settlements, have explored some crucial facts to be
the average rainfall intensity values recorded throughout the year. addressed in new a drainage design initiative. As a minimum, even

Table III. Effective drainage discharge rates Qc pertaining to the each case.
Experimental Effective Effective Effective Qc
scenario Description Manning’s n A (m2  P (m) A/P = R (m) (m3 /s)
Case 01 30% clogged, no trap 0132 009 09 01 001
Case 02 0% clogged, with a trap 0046 0135 12 01125 004
Case 03 Control case 0014 0135 12 01125 015

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 Adv. Sci. Lett. 23, 1407–1411, 2017 RESEARCH ARTICLE

the outskirt of the informal settlements needs an extended waste Dr. Lakshan Abeynaike (MD), Dr. Gayan Abeygunawardhena
trapping mechanism throughout the existing micro drainage line (MD) for reviews of drafts.
to prevent clogging. There’s an urgent need of maintaining a clear
channel to facilitate fast conveyance of storm water which prevent
unnecessary stagnation. In a situation of a clogged drainage chan- References and Notes
1. U. Habitat, State of the world’s cities 2012/2013, Prosperity of Cities, Rout-
nel, it is advisable to re-route the water cause even with a tem-
ledge (2013).
porary external channel. There needs to be a mechanism which 2. A. K. Jha, et al., Cities and Flooding a Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk
facilitates municipal garbage workers for easy removal of flushed Management for the 21st Century (2012).
and fallen garbage from the drainage line. Since, dredging and 3. A. K. Gupta and S. S. Nair, Current Science (Bangalore) 100, 1638 (2011).
4. C. E. Tucci, Urban Drainage in Humid Tropics 23 (2001).
cleaning of the drainage canal is not under the duty of municipal 5. J. Lamond, et al., The Role of Solid Waste Management as a Response to
garbage collectors. Urban Flood Risk in Developing Countries, A Case Study Analysis (2012).
6. S. Cairncross, et al., Poor die young, Housing and Health in Third World
Cities, Earthscan (1990).
6. CONCLUSION 7. C. Tucci, Urban drainage in humid tropics, Volume I in Maksimovic, C, Urban
Drainage in Specific Climates (2001).
Drainage network is a key element that manages the storm water 8. D. C. N. Chandraseana, et al., Jurnal Teknologi 78 (2016).
circulation of a city. The inefficiency of which will cause severe 9. S. L. Handy, et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine 23, 64 (2002).
system breakdowns that lead to harmful socioeconomic and spa- 10. J. T. Powell, Vascular Medicine 3, 21 (1998).
11. S. Gupta, et al., Resources, Conservation and Recycling 24, 137 (1998).
tial impacts. Blocked drains physically degrade the drainage 12. C. Zurbrugg, Urban solid waste management in low-income countries of Asia
infrastructure and put the compact city into an unprecedented how to cope with the garbage crisis, Presented for Scientific Committee
danger. Uncontrolled forces like heavy rainfalls can trigger the on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Urban Solid Waste Management
Review Session, Durban, South Africa (2002), pp. 1–13.
harmfulness of this situation. The risks of natural disasters are
13. M. A. Taleb, Global Journal of Human Social Science, Geography and Envi-
expected to be increased over the next few years. Therefore, com- ronmental GeoSciences 12, 37 (2012).
pact cities should have a proper preparedness plan over upcoming 14. C. O. A. Watershed Engineering Division, Meredith Street Storm drain
threats. Whenever a drainage channel appears to be clogged it is Improvement Project Preliminary Engineering Report, Government of Texas
(2013).
advised to clear a channel or re-route the flow to allocate a path 15. V. Te Chow, Open Channel Hydraulics (1959).
for the runoff. This is what the coronary artery bypass grafting 16. N. Armitage and A. Rooseboom, The removal of urban litter from stormwater
does, when the arterial blockage occurs. conduits and streams, Paper 1—The Quantities Involved and Catchment Litter
Management Options, edited by S. A. Water (2000), Vol. 26, pp. 181–188.
17. A. M. Troschinetz and J. R. Mihelcic, Waste Management 29, 915 (2009).
Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank Dr. Janaka 18. J. Parkinson and O. Mark, Urban Stormwater Management in Developing
Kumara (Post-Doctoral fellow at Meijo University Japan), Countries, IWA Publishing (2005).

Received: 3 June 2016. Accepted. 31 July 2016.

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