Accessing the Sewer Infrastructure Susceptible to damage due to Flooding in Kampala Area

Abstract

Sustained periods of heavy rain can be more problematic than a few puddles, flooding is becoming an issue in several areas of Uganda. The changes in climate are causing increased storm surges and, as a result, an increase in the number of yearly floods. The amount of stormwater is also increasing in many geographical areas. These floods are gradually becoming a threat to the sewer infrastructure including sewer pipes and manholes. Sewer overflows are on the increase same applies to broken and damaged manholes and sewer pipes. This project embarked on determining the flood susceptible areas of Kampala area and after which determine the sewer infrastructure within these flood zones that is prone to damage due to flooding. The infrastructure at risk was obtained by multiplying the Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability Factors. The Multi-criteria analysis method used six parameters of Slope, Flow Accumulation, Geology, Elevation, Rainfall, and Land use/Land Cover to determine the flood susceptible areas of the Kampala area. This was considered the Hazard factor The Sewer infrastructure was then obtained and a density map showing its location concentration geographically generated after normalization, this becomes the Exposure factor. The Vulnerability of the sewer network was obtained by considering the pipe size and pipe material. The project found out that the sewer infrastructure that is at risk of damage is in the areas of - Makerere Kavule - Lugogo by-pass - Kyambogo- along Kyambogo road - Kibuli- along Albert cook road - Kibuye- along kayemba road The project recommended frequent de-silting of the stormwater and open drainages to reduce the vulnerability of the sewer infrastructure. Improvement of the attribute data of the sewer infrastructure to include age and condition will eventually lead to a better analysis of the sewer vulnerability for future studies.