ABU DHABI, UAE, 11 June 2024: Dominic McPolin, former advisor, Office of the Minister, Bahrain Ministry of Works, referring to stormwater management systems in London, said storm water is often connected to the sewage system. This practice, he said, leads to severe pollution problems when sewage systems become overloaded and overflow into rivers.

McPolin emphasised that such an approach is unsuitable for urban areas in the Middle Eastern, where retrofitting existing infrastructure to handle combined drainage is impractical. He proposed developing a separate, large-scale, independent drainage system with dedicated outfalls, particularly along the coast, where it can be more easily managed. However, McPolin acknowledged the challenges that come with implementing such a system. The maintenance of these drainage systems is costly, as they remain empty most of the time and fill with sand, requiring significant upkeep to keep them ready for use, he said.

McPolin said: “We used to seal gullies to stop the sand going in, because the maintenance cost is enormous, just to have them ready for that two-week period. When you pile all of that, the capital, the incredible maintenance of keeping empty pipes free of debris and sand, in particular, going into the gullies, it’s an enormous cost. It’s a political decision whether or not that level of mega-network can be sustained economically, even spatially.”

As a solution, McPolin suggested decentralised and innovative designs. He shared an example from Bahrain, where he proposed converting tennis courts into emergency water-holding tanks. By sinking the tennis courts and using them as temporary reservoirs, water could be managed locally during emergencies and slowly pumped out through smaller pipes, he said. He noted that this creative, localised approach offers a practical solution for managing storm water without the need for extensive and expensive infrastructure.

McPolin highlighted the importance of adopting innovative, localised strategies for stormwater management in the Middle East. These solutions, he said, ought to be customised to address specific regional challenges, offering practical alternatives to traditional, costly infrastructure projects.