The most notable common point of the projects is the change in the approach to urban flooding problems. Instead of running behind and racing against the weather and floods, localities are showing long-term, overall solutions - problem handling as well as adaptability.
That is Hanoi building underground regulating tanks, expanding the regulating lake system to increase water storage capacity for the city. Thai Nguyen simultaneously deploys bridges, dikes and flood control lakes to form a synchronous flood prevention and control network for the entire central area. Quang Ninh has both invested in new projects and adjusted the operation of pumping stations and regulating lakes to improve drainage efficiency.
If we still handle and prevent flooding in the old way, only continue to expand the drainage system, cities are very likely to fall into a vicious circle.
Sewers can be made larger, lakes can be dug more, but if natural ponds and lakes continue to narrow, the urban surface continues to be concreted and the construction density is increasing, the risk of waterlogging will still increase.
Flood control cannot just be a separate story of the construction or drainage sector, but also relates to the overall situation from planning, land management, urban development and adaptation to climate change.
Reality also shows that many cities around the world such as Copenhagen (Denmark), Rotterdam or Amsterdam (Netherlands), Berlin (Germany) and dozens of cities in China have changed their flood control methods from rapid drainage to smart "water conservation".
Instead of trying every way to bring water out of the city in the shortest time, they create more space for water to be temporarily stored, seeped into the ground or distribute pressure to the drainage system.
The positive sign is that Vietnam is also gradually moving in this direction by renovating and building regulating lakes, underground reservoirs or flood control works that are being implemented in many localities.
What people care about with each project is whether after completion, the streets where they live will still "turn into winding rivers" every time it rains heavily; whether houses will still anxiously raise furniture when listening to weather forecasts and whether travel, study, and production will still be disrupted after just a few hours of heavy rain...
If the projects being urgently implemented today can answer the above-mentioned issues in a positive direction, eliminating the scene of hearing heavy rain and seeing flooding, then that will be the greatest success of localities in the long-standing flood prevention war.
