Dhaka, the overburdened capital city of Bangladesh, faces severe water management challenges, such as flood and waterlogging, especially during the monsoon season. The concept of a Sponge City offers a promising solution to combat these issues. This article delves into the details of the Sponge City concept, its successful implementation in other countries, and why it should be adopted in Dhaka. The Concept of Sponge City Kongjian Yu, a Chinese landscape architect and professor, pioneered the concept of the Sponge City. A Sponge City is designed to passively absorb, clean, and utilize rainwater in an eco-friendly manner by reducing polluted runoff. Essentially, it uses landscapes and infrastructure to preserve water and promote natural retention, infiltration, and purification of drainage. Key techniques associated with a Sponge City include: ·        Rainwater Harvesting: Collecting and storing rainwater for various uses. ·        Permeable Roads: Roads designed to allow water to seep through and be absorbed into the ground. ·        Terrace Gardens: Green roofs that help absorb rainwater and reduce runoff. ·        Green Spaces and Waterbodies: Parks, ponds, and lakes that act as natural water retention and purification systems. Proper implementation of these techniques can minimize the frequency and severity of floods, improve water quality, and reduce individual water usage. Green roofs, for example, enhance the quality of life by improving air quality and mitigating urban heat islands. Overall, a Sponge City can efficiently handle excess water during heavy rains and reuse it during dry periods to combat water shortages. Read more: How to Build Dhaka as a Water Wise City How China Adopted the Concept of Sponge City In 2013, the Chinese Central Government adopted Professor Kongjian Yu’s Sponge City concept, implementing it across 30 cities. Following successful trials, China aims to transform 80% of urban areas into “sponges” by 2030. The core principle of Chinese Sponge Cities is to give water enough room and time to drain into the soil rather than quickly channeling it into large dams. Instead of fast-flowing water channels, these cities employ meandering streams without concrete walls, allowing water to spread out during heavy rains. Yu asserts that replacing concrete infrastructure with natural systems can save lives. In Sponge City designs, natural waterways and permeable soils clean water and reduce pollution. Evaporated rainwater cools the city, while collected rainwater is used for irrigation, street cleaning, and other purposes, reducing the reliance on tap water. The vegetation, sediments, and microorganisms in Sponge City water systems lessen the burden on energy-intensive urban water filtration facilities. As climate change brings unpredictable rainfall, Sponge City buildings are constructed to accommodate rising water levels during floods. Compared to traditional gray infrastructure, Sponge City designs require less energy for maintenance. They reduce the load on water treatment facilities, decrease the need for air conditioning due to heat reduction effects, and use fewer resources like concrete. Additionally, vast green spaces absorb carbon dioxide and air pollutants, promote biodiversity, and provide recreational areas for residents. China has also implemented Sponge City concepts in Ningbo, a coastal city 150 km south of Shanghai. Ningbo’s sponge infrastructure includes an eco-corridor on a post-industrial site, where channeled water flows through meandering waterways surrounded by native plants. This blue space improves water quality, provides habitat for flora and fauna, and reduces the risk of waterlogging. Read more: What Can Dhaka Learn from the Smart City Singapore Application of Sponge City Model in Copenhagen Copenhagen adopted the Sponge City concept in its Cloudburst Master Plan, developed in 2012. This plan redesigns approximately 250 public spaces to retain or redirect floodwaters, including parks, playgrounds, and the Sankt Kjelds Plads roundabout. Green spaces like trees, shrubs, and soil naturally retain water and direct it to non-destructive areas.

UK Development Director and Deputy High Commissioner in Bangladesh Matt Cannell has said the devastating flooding in Sylhet last year and Chittagong division this year demonstrates Bangladesh’s vulnerabilities to the impacts of climate change. “The UK is proud to partner with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office to support greater disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in Bangladesh. I am pleased to announce this during the government of Bangladesh and UNDP’s Disaster Resilience Week,” he said, announcing that the UK is providing £500,000 to the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office to support disaster preparedness, response and recovery in Bangladesh. Read: Teesta water sharing issue to be raised during Hasina-Modi talks in Delhi: FM The Deputy High Commissioner said this will help guarantee that disaster responses are coordinated and well-informed, and that more preparations are made ahead of disasters, limiting their impact and saving lives. “This builds on the UK's historic support for humanitarian response in Bangladesh and complements the Government of Bangladesh's remarkable work on disaster resilience and response to date,” he said. UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis said the partnership with the UK will enhance coordination across the UN and NGOs in Bangladesh, and as a result strengthen support to the government of Bangladesh, and most importantly to the people most affected by natural disasters. “The impacts of climate change and the resulting intensity of disasters means this work is more important than ever. Our efforts are focused on better early warning systems, anticipatory action and a quick and timely response to emergencies and disasters,” she said. Read: Elevated expressway a big step towards Smart Bangladesh: Korean Ambassador This money will aid in the coordination of humanitarian assistance provided by the Government of Bangladesh, donors, the UN, and NGOs prior to, during, and after disaster events. It will also ensure that this help reaches the most vulnerable people with the most essential relief supplies, said the British High Commission in Dhaka on Sunday. Read: Bangladesh, Vietnam on right track to pursue $2bn trade target: Ambassador Furthermore, it will assist the government of Bangladesh in developing a new risk assessment and contingency plan for earthquakes, as well as expand its work on anticipatory actions and early warning systems to assist people in taking precautions to protect their lives before disasters strike.

Schools in New Delhi were forced to close Monday after heavy monsoon rains battered the Indian capital, with landslides and flash floods killing at least 15 people over the last three days. Farther north, the overflowing Beas River swept vehicles downstream as it flooded neighborhoods. In Japan, torrential rain pounded the southwest, causing floods and mudslides that left two people dead and at least six others missing Monday. Local TV showed damaged houses in Fukuoka prefecture and muddy water from the swollen Yamakuni River appearing to threaten a bridge in the town of Yabakei. New Delhi schools close after monsoon floods kill at least 15, Pakistan on alert for more flooding In Ulster County, in New York’s Hudson Valley and in Vermont, some said the flooding is the worst they’ve seen since Hurricane Irene’s devastation in 2011. Although destructive flooding in India, Japan, China, Turkey and the United States might seem like distant events, atmospheric scientists say they have this in common: Storms are forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality now. The additional warming that scientists predict is coming will only make it worse. Heavy rains cause flooding and mudslides in southwest Japan, leaving 2 dead and at least 6 missing That’s because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which results in storms dumping more precipitation that can have deadly outcomes. Pollutants, especially carbon dioxide and methane, are heating up the atmosphere. Instead of allowing heat to radiate away from Earth into space, they hold onto it. While climate change is not the cause of storms unleashing the rainfall, these storms are forming in an atmosphere that is becoming warmer and wetter. “Sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit can hold twice as much water as 50 degrees Fahrenheit,” said Rodney Wynn, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay. “Warm air expands and cool air contracts. You can think of it as a balloon - when it’s heated the volume is going to get larger, so therefore it can hold more moisture.” 'Life threatening' flooding overwhelms New York roadways, killing 1 person For every 1 degree Celsius, which equals 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, the atmosphere warms, it holds approximately 7% more moisture. According to NASA, the average global temperature has increased by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.9 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880. “When a thunderstorm develops, water vapor gets condensed into rain droplets and falls back down to the surface. So as these storms form in warmer environments that have more moisture in them, the rainfall increases,” explained Brian Soden, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami. Along Turkey’s mountainous and scenic Black Sea coast, heavy rains swelled rivers and damaged cities with flooding and landslides. At least 15 people were killed by flooding in another mountainous region, in southwestern China. 15 killed by floods in southwestern China as seasonal torrents hit mountain areas “As the climate gets warmer we expect intense rain events to become more common, it’s a very robust prediction of climate models,” Soden added. “It’s not surprising to see these events happening, it’s what models have been predicting ever since day one.” Gavin Schmidt, climatologist and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the regions being hit hardest by climate change are not the ones who emit the largest amount of planet-warming pollutants. Better flood management: China offers assistance for dredging rivers in Bangladesh “The bulk of the emissions have come from the industrial Western nations and the bulk of the impacts are happening in places that don’t have good infrastructure, that are less prepared for weather extremes and have no real ways to manage this,” said Schmidt.

The death toll from heavy rains and floods that devastated parts of the Philippines over the Christmas weekend has risen to 25, with 26 others still missing, the national disaster response agency said Wednesday. Nearly 400,000 people were affected, with over 81,000 still in shelters and nine others injured, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Sixteen of the 25 deaths were reported in Northern Mindanao region in the south, while 12 of the 26 missing are from the eastern Bicol region, the council added. Read: 26 Rohingya refugees died at sea making perilous journey: UN A shear line — the point where warm and cold air meet — triggered rains in parts of eastern, central and southern Philippines, the state weather bureau PAGASA said. The weather disturbance disrupted Christmas celebration in affected provinces, with photos from the southern province of Misamis Occidental showing rescuers carrying an elderly woman on a plastic chair as they waded through a flooded street. Some residents in the province were seen hanging on to floaters as coast guard rescuers pulled them across chest-deep flood using a rope. The disaster management council said 1,196 houses were damaged by the floods, while sections of 123 roads and 12 bridges were affected. Some areas remain without power or water supply. While the effect of the shear line has weakened, a new low pressure area may bring moderate to heavy rains within the next 24 hours to the same areas affected by the Christmas weekend floods. The weather bureau said Wednesday that flooding and landslides are likely, especially in areas with significant prior rainfall. Read: Urgently rescue boat carrying upto 200 Rohingyas: ASEAN parliamentarians urge member states, others Each year about 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. The archipelago is located on the “Ring of Fire” along the Pacific Ocean’s rim, where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

Four villages of Fulgazi upazila in Feni were flooded early Monday as the Muhuri River swelled due to heavy rains and upstream water from India. The flood protection embankment collapsed at two points around 2 am at North Doulatpur part of Fulgazi sadar union and flooded Ghaniamora, Bairagpur, North & South Doulatpur villages, according to Water Development Board (WDB). Currently the Muhuri River is flowing 80 centimeters above the danger  level, said Zahir Uddin, Executive Engineer of Feni WDB. Read: Low-lying areas of 5 dists flooded due to tidal surge caused by depression “If the rainfall stops in the Indian side the water level will lower soon. The damaged portions of the embankment will be repaired immediately,” he said.   “Crops, fish, houses and roads of these four villages have been damaged. We are constantly monitoring the situation,” said Abdul Alim, Fulgazi upazila parishad chairman. 

Rivers in the northeastern district of Sylhet swelled following three days of heavy rains in the region and upstream in India, raising fear of another round of flooding this year. Incessant rains since early Saturday sent many parts Sylhet city to go under knee-deep water. Vast areas of the city have been hit by acute waterlogging. Water has also entered households and shops, causing immense sufferings to people living in low-lying areas. Locals complained that waterlogging happened due to poor drainage system in the city. “A downpour for a couple of hours inundates most of the city areas due to incomplete drainage works. Besides, rainwater can’t pass as local influential people have filled up almost all the water bodies,” said Kawsar Mia, a city resident. According to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC), water level is rising fast in rivers flowing through Sylhet and Sunamganj. A temporary flooding is likely to affect these two districts within this week. However, the losses will be minimal as no crop is currently being cultivated in the division’s Haor areas. Read: Sylhet flood situation improves as rivers recede “The current bout of rain will continue till September 6, while another round may drench Sylhet division next week,” said Saeed Ahmad Chowdhury, a senior meteorologist at Sylhet Meteorological Center. Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan, an executive engineer of FFWC, said that another round of flooding is on the horizon. “Heavy rain is ongoing upstream. As a result, floodwater will continue inundating the Teesta basin and Sylhet division for most of this week. But the increased level of water won’t last long,” Arif said. According to forecast by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), seasonal air will cause rain in Sylhet division for the next few days. Besides, a forecast from Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) has said that water level in almost all the rivers of the country will rise due to excessive rain in the upstream.   In June, a record-level flooding inundated almost 80 percent area of Sylhet division. The deluge that ravaged the region from June to August claimed more than 80 lives and forced many to flee their flooded homes and take shelter on highways and buildings in whatever little dry places were left. 

The familiar ingredients of a warming world were in place: searing temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather getting wilder, melting glaciers, people living in harm’s way, and poverty. They combined in vulnerable Pakistan to create unrelenting rain and deadly flooding. The flooding has all the hallmarks of a catastrophe juiced by climate change, but it is too early to formally assign blame to global warming, several scientists tell The Associated Press. It occurred in a country that did little to cause the warming, but keeps getting hit, just like the relentless rain. “This year Pakistan has received the highest rainfall in at least three decades. So far this year the rain is running at more than 780% above average levels,” said Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a member of Pakistan’s Climate Change Council. “Extreme weather patterns are turning more frequent in the region and Pakistan is not a exception.” Climate Minister Sherry Rehman said “it’s been a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.” Also read: Over 33 mln people, 72 districts of Pakistan affected by floods Pakistan “is considered the eighth most vulnerable country to climate change,” said Moshin Hafeez, a Lahore-based climate scientist at the International Water Management Institute. Its rain, heat and melting glaciers are all climate change factors scientists warned repeatedly about. While scientists point out these classic climate change fingerprints, they have not yet finished intricate calculations that compare what happened in Pakistan to what would happen in a world without warming. That study, expected in a few weeks, will formally determine how much climate change is a factor, if at all. The “recent flood in Pakistan is actually an outcome of the climate catastrophe ... that was looming very large,” said Anjal Prakash, a research director at India’s Bharti Institute of Public Policy. “The kind of incessant rainfall that has happened ... has been unprecedented." Pakistan is used to monsoons and downpours, but “we do expect them spread out, usually over three months or two months,” said the country's climate minister Rehman. There are usually breaks, she said, and not as much rain -- 37.5 centimeters (14.8 inches) falls in one day, nearly three times higher than the national average for the past three decades. “Neither is it so prolonged. ... It’s been eight weeks and we are told we might see another downpour in September.” Also read: Pakistan flooding deaths pass 1,000 in 'climate catastrophe' “Clearly, it’s being juiced by climate change,” said Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts. There’s been a 400% increase in average rainfall in areas like Baluchistan and Sindh, which led to the extreme flooding, Hafeez said. At least 20 dams have been breached. The heat has been as relentless as the rain. In May, Pakistan consistently saw temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). Scorching temperatures higher than 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) were recorded in places like Jacobabad and Dadu. Warmer air holds more moisture -- about 7% more per degree Celsius (4% per degree Fahrenheit) — and that eventually comes down, in this case in torrents. Across the world “intense rain storms are getting more intense,” said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer. And he said mountains, like those in Pakistan, help wring extra moisture out as the clouds pass. Instead of just swollen rivers flooding from extra rain, Pakistan is hit with another source of flash flooding: The extreme heat accelerates the long-term glacier melting then water speeds down from the Himalayas to Pakistan in a dangerous phenomena called glacial lake outburst floods.   “We have the largest number of glaciers outside the polar region, and this affects us,” climate minister Rehman said. “Instead of keeping their majesty and preserving them for posterity and nature. We are seeing them melt.” Not all of the problem is climate change. Pakistan saw similar flooding and devastation in 2010 that killed nearly 2,000 people. But the government didn’t implement plans to prevent future flooding by preventing construction and homes in flood prone areas and river beds, said Suleri of the country's Climate Change Council. The disaster is hitting a poor country that has contributed relatively little to the world's climate problem, scientists and officials said. Since 1959, Pakistan has emitted about 0.4% of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, compared to 21.5% by the United States and 16.4% by China. “Those countries that have developed or gotten rich on the back of fossil fuels, which are the problem really,” Rehman said. “They’re going to have to make a critical decision that the world is coming to a tipping point. We certainly have already reached that point because of our geographical location.”

Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across much of Pakistan have killed nearly 1,000 people and injured and displaced thousands more since mid-June, officials said Saturday. The new death toll came a day after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif asked for international help in battling deadly flood damage in the impoverished Islamic nation. The monsoon season, which began in June, has lashed Pakistan with particularly heavy rains this year and rescuers have struggled to evacuate thousands of marooned people from flood-hit areas. The crisis has forced the government to declare a state of emergency. Also read: Pakistan seeks international help for flood victims In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, flooding destroyed the gates of a major water control system at the Swat River, leading to flooding in the districts of Charsadda and Nowshera, said Sania Safi, a top administrator in Charsadda. “We preempted the situation and warned and forced hesitating residents to leave their homes for safety and move to relief camps established at government buildings in safe places,” she said. Safi said there was concern of further rising of the Swat and Kabul rivers, adding to the misery of residents who have already suffered the loss of lives and property. In Nowshera district, local administrator Quratul Ain Wazir said flood waters submerged streets before the gushing waters headed toward low-lying areas. Also read: Official: Flooding in eastern Afghanistan kills at least 9 “Our administration has evacuated many people and taken others to relief camps where government provided beds and food in safe buildings," she said. ... "We will use police to force those hesitant to leave their homes.” Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said soldiers and rescue organizations were helping people to reach safety in many districts of southern Sindh, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eastern Punjab and southwestern Baluchistan provinces. “Government has sanctioned sufficient funds to financially compensate the affected people and we will not leave our people alone in this tough time,” she said. Aurangzeb asked wealthy people and relief organizations to come forward with aid to help flood-affected Pakistanis. In response to Sharif's appeal for international aid, the United Nations planned a $160 million flash appeal for donations, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Asim Iftikhar. He said in his weekly briefing Friday that the appeal will be launched Aug. 30. The picturesque Kalam Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is one of the areas most affected by the rains and flooding. Waters from overflowing rivers swept away entire buildings, including an iconic hotel. “The situation is pretty serious as we don't have any road link left with the rest of the province, we don't have electricity, gas and communications network and no relief is reaching here,” said Muzaffar Khan, whose grocery store was swept away along with many other shops. Thousands whose homes were swept away now live in tents, miles away from their inundated villages and towns, after being rescued by soldiers, local disaster workers and volunteers, authorities said. In Baluchistan, Asadullah Nasir, a spokesperson at the provincial disaster management authority said all 34 districts of the impoverish province were badly affected due to the heavy rains and subsequent flooding. He said road networks were destroyed and bridges washed away and relief is possible only with helicopters, which are not often able to operate because of bad weather. He said provincial officials have confirmed 235 deaths but the number was expected to increase significantly after communications are restored. The National Disaster Management Authority in its latest overnight report said 45 people were killed in flood-related incidents from Friday to Saturday. That brought the death toll since mid-June to 982 with 1,456 injured. Monsoon rains were expected to continue this week, mainly in the south and southwest. The season usually runs from July to mid September in Pakistan. Heavy rains and subsequent flash floods have damaged bridges, roads network across Pakistan, disrupting the supply of fruit and vegetables to markets and causing a hike in prices.

Heavy flooding from seasonal rains in eastern Afghanistan overnight left at least nine people dead, swept away homes and destroyed livestock and agricultural land, a provincial official and a villager elder said Sunday. Associated Press video showed villagers in the Khushi district of Logar province south of the Afghan capital of Kabul cleaning up after the flooding, their damaged homes in disarray. Abdullah Mufaker, head of Logar province's Natural Disaster Management Ministry, said it was still unknown how many were killed and injured by the rising waters but that there were at least nine fatalities. Read: 31 dead in India flash floods & landslides “The exact number is not clear for the time being, and the people have gone to remove the dead bodies,” he said. Del Agha, a village elder, said the flooding was unprecedented in the history of Khushi. “It destroyed all the people’s animals, houses and agricultural lands,” he said. "People are homeless, they have been refuged to the mountains.” Last week, heavy rains set off flash floods that killed at least 31 people and left dozens missing in northern Afghanistan.

Flooding and extreme high temperatures have caused multiple deaths in eastern China as summer heat descends earlier than usual. Record-high temperatures have been reported in Zhejiang province, just east of the global business hub of Shanghai, topping out above 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. The neighboring coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Fujian were also suffering under high heat, while Henan, Sichuan and Heilongjiang further inland saw many hospitalized for heat stroke, with an as-yet unreported number of deaths. Read: China sees record rains, heat as weather turns volatile Floods have also struck much of the country, with three people reported killed and five missing in Sichuan province’s Pingwu county as of midday Wednesday. One person was reported dead and eight missing in Heilongjiang in the northeast. Experts say such extreme weather events are becoming more likely because of climate change. Warmer air can store more water, leading to bigger cloudbursts when it’s released. Hundreds of thousands in south-central China have already been displaced by flooding. The flooding adds to economic woes brought on partly by stringent “zero-COVID” measures restricting travel and disrupting supply chains.