Ending floods the Taiwan way

Jui-Wen Chen exhibits in Paris, France. [PHOTOS: MAUREEN ODIWUOR/STANDARD]

Every year, many Kenyans get displaced; lose their lives and property worth millions of shillings gets destroyed due to floods.

Regardless how much national and county governments assure Kenyans that they are prepared to address this disaster, floods still cause havoc.

This, however, is not a Kenya-only problem. Many countries are battling with how to prevent flood-related disasters emanating from erratic rains due to climate change, caused by global warming.

In Taiwan, one man has found the solution to this flood problem – permeable pavements that absorb water rather than holding it in place. Their main area of application is urban areas where lanes, sidewalks, parks, plazas, parking lots and airports can be constructed.

According to the JW Eco-Technology Inventor Jui-Wen Chen, this carbon-capturing and breathing pavement can be used to help address global warming and pollution.

“JW Pavement is a high load-bearing, highly permeable innovation that is capable of forming underground wetlands to solve flood and drought issues. It also solves the problem of heat island and environmental pollution,” he says.

In Taiwan and China, the eco-technology testing has been done successfully for 10 years. The pavement consists of a sub-base layer of gravel drainage rock and concrete pavement layer of Aqueduct which is an artificial channel for conveying water, supported by tall columns.

In laying the pavement, the gravel layer is put on the soil then the aqueduct frame is laid on top. Concrete cement is then paved smoothly and the covered strip of aqueduct is peeled to reveal holes.

According to Chen, the JW pavement is capable of recycling rain water hence minimising disasters caused by flood and drought.

“ JW pavement regulates surface temperatures and hence becomes warmer in cold seasons and cooler in hot seasons,” he says.

It also filters rainwater pollutants and manages smog issues by capturing vehicle pollutants hence improving environment quality, general health, saving repair expenses and creating green growth. It also has capacity to capture water equivalent to 100 pores per square metre.

Rain water gets through the permeable pavement and settles at the gravel layers, hence forming a temporary underground reservoir before dispersing it to the soil and settling into a natural ground reservoir.

The collected water can be linked to underground water catchment containers and used in drought stricken areas.