Automated Drainage Management Through AI

By Jola-Michael Samson

Flooding is a seasonal enemy of the people in both the rural and the urban areas.  It is expected to be controlled by a well-planned drainage network to channel the flow of water to the nearest river or larger drainages.

Most construction engineers have failed to deliver drainages that serve their purposes adequately. Whenever there is heavy rainfall, it is expected that as water flows in to the drainages, it finds the path that was initially planned for it by the construction engineers. But it is obvious that most of our drainages warehouse the water when we do expect that they are pipelines to get the ecosystems dry.

Diverse topography is one of the major drawbacks in the construction of drainages that will effectively serve their purposes.

Rainy season is mostly dreaded by people in the urban space because of flooding which always results in loss of valuable properties and sometimes lives.

We can permanently resolve this seasonal menace through Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This Idea will demand that our drainages are rebuilt in line with the specifications. Although it may be expensive to build but we would not need to build another in same place in the near future.

It can at first be piloted in sophisticated areas in Lagos, Nigeria, where there institutions that can collectively afford the expenses involved without waiting for the government.

The idea involves the following:

1. Create a central unit for Drainage Management.
2. Construct padded drainages with laid automated platform triggered by water sensor which will be raised to create slope for water to flow in a set direction at intervals.
3. Ensure Drainage network that is monitored remotely through installed cameras.
4. Note the direction to which the water will flow; which must be toward the closest larger drainage or a river.
5. The in-built platform should also be made in way that it can be controlled remotely from the central unit to focus attention of slope creation to areas with urgent attention, to quickly evacuate water from the area during raining period.
6. The in-built platform should be created to have solid waste and sand remover components and evacuating them outside the drainage at distance interval repeatedly.

I am not an engineer but I have this picture in my mind, and I believe it is achievable.

Our major problems as human beings, most especially as Nigerians, have remained with us, because we do not nurture our ideas and co-ordinate our innovations adequately.