THE CHALLENGES OF URBAN FLOOD MANAGEMENT

IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Ho Long Phi
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City
Senior advisor/Project manager at the Steering Center of Flood Control
Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Content

Urbanisation
Climate changes
Urban flood and flood management projects
Results and discussions
Integrated Strategy for urban flood management
Conclusions

Studied region

The core of HCMC is

about 700 km2.
Related catchments is
much more larger.

URBANISATION

Urbanisation
1975-2009
6 Mil. Inhab.
1950-1975
2 Mil. Inhab.
1850-1950
0.5 Mil. Inhab.

2020
12 Mil. Inhab.

Urbanising areas have been developed on lowland under pressure of

economic growth.

INHABITANT GROWTH
Population Density in New Urbanised Districts HCM City

Sub-urban areas

250

Qun 2

200

Hc Mn
Qun 12
150

Th c
G Vp
Qun 9

100

C Chi
Qun 7
50

Bnh Chnh

0
1997

1998

1999

2000

2002

2003

2004

2005

Urban areas

Population Density in Central Districts HCM City

600
Qun 3
500

Qun 11
Ph Nhun
Qun 6

400

Qun 4
Qun 1

300

Qun 5
Qun 10

200

Qun 11
Tn Bnh

100

Bnh Thnh
0
1997

1998

1999

2000

2002

2003

2004

2005

Population grows mostly in new urbanised districts whereas decreased or remained

unchanged in central areas of the city.

Canal invasion

Hiep Tan canal (Tan Phu district): solid waste problem

Floor uprising

Development Plan to 2025

An important part of Ho Chi Minh city will be developed within low-land areas.

CLIMATE CHANGES

Correlation between
Dry Season temperature and heavy Rainfall

Rainfall

Volume of yearly-max rainfall events increased about 50mm upon the past 50 years.
Counts of 3-hour rainfall events with volume >100mm
Period

1952-1961

1962-1971

1972-1981

1982-1991

1992-2002

2003-2010*

Counts

*The last record consists of just 8 years data.

Water levels

Stationary

Increasing

Statistical tests confirm the Non

Non-stationary
stationary feature of the data
series 1960-2009.

Counts of water level exceedance

Counts of water level X
Phu An station
120
100
80
counts

120

60

130
140

40

145

20
0
1975
-20

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

year

Counts of water level X

Nha Be station

Counts of water level X

Thu Dau Mot station
300

300

250

250
>89 cm

200

200

>89 cm
>99 cm

150

>109 cm

100

>119 cm
>129 cm

>109 cm

150

>119 cm
100

>129 cm
>139 cm

50
0
1975
-50

>144
144 cm

1980

1985

1990

1995
year

2000

2005

2010

counts

counts

>99 cm

>139 cm
50
0
1975
-50

>144 cm

1980

1985

1990

1995
year

2000

2005

2010

Local trends in water level rise

Yearly max water level
Mc nc
cao nht hng nm
1990-2007

Water level (cm)

170

NB: y = 1.1744x
1 1744x - 2208.1
2208 1
160

M c n c (cm )

150

140

PA

130

VT
NB
VT: y = -0.0774x + 289.4

120

PA: y = 1.452x - 2766

110

07

06

05

04

03

02

01

00

08
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

98

97

96

99

20

19

19

19

19

94

93

92

95
19

19

19

19

90

91
19

19

19

89

100

Year

Nm

Sea level at Vung Tau (red

(red line)
line) has been hardly changed,
changed, while all water
levels at river stations has shown an average
g increasing
g of 1.5cm per
p year
y
since 1990.

Observed land subsidence

No.

Location

Vertical movement (cm)

Binh Tien Co. Dist. 6

13

Water Supply branch. Dist. 6

Water Supply
pp y branch. Dist. 6

Housing Co. Dist. 6

20

GW monitoring station. Dist. Binh Tan

14

Nam Long Co. Dist Binh Tan

14

Pham The Hien Str. Dist 8

30
Source:

Nguyen van Nga et al. (11/2004)

An insight investigation using INSAR technique is finishing.

URBAN FLOOD
and
FLOOD MANAGEMENT
PROJECTS

Urban Flood in Ho Chi Minh Cityy

Count of flood Events
1000

16

900

14

800

12

700
Flood event

600

10

500

400

300

Count of rainfall
event with volume >
50mm

200
100

0
2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Year
Central districts

Recently Urbanized Districts

R>50mm

The flooding situation in central districts has been improved

since 2007, thank to flood management projects. Note that
p on increasing.
g
count of heavyy rainfall events keeps
New flooded sites are developing in new urbanized districts.

Flooded sites

Flooded sites are moving outwards to new urbanised districts .

Flooded area at sea level +2.0

300 km2 of HCM City would be flooded at water level +2.0, apart from Can Gio
area.

Master Plan 2001 (JICA(JICA-PCI)

650 km2 of HCM City involving 6 sub-catchments was considered in the master
plan 2001.
Large shifts of hydrological data and urbanisation make the planning obsolete.

JJICA master p
plan 2001

Mostly to upgrade discharge capacity of storm

sewer system + elevated land.
The measure have been
b
applied
d to some projects
in HCM so far, until recent warnings
g of water
level rise.

Urb n Drainage
Urban
Dr in
Pr
Projects
j t

Master plan JICA (6/2001)

Tham
Th m Luong
L
Luongn -Ben
B n Cat
C t (USD 400 Mn
Mn.,., 30%)

Nhieu LocLoc-Thi Nghe (USD 300 Mn

Mn.,., 90%)

Tan Hoa
Hoa--Lo Gom (USD 200 Mn
Mn.,., under construction)

Tau Hu Ben Nghe (USD 350 Mn

Mn.,., finished)

Tide control project 1547 (USD 2 Bn., designing)

Hundreds of small projects since 1990.

JJust 15% of urbanised area has been upgraded.

pg
Manyy $ Bn. would be required.
q

Tide Control Project

j ((MARD))
Hnh 9 QUY HOCH H THNG CNG TRNH KIM
SOT MC NC
CHNG NGP
NG KHU VC
B HU SNG
SI GN NH B

To cope with sea level rise, HCMC would be protected by a

controversial plan of polder system.

Effect of tide control project

(
(case
study
d 2000)

Flood depth

Flooded area without tide gates (ha)

Flooded area with tide gates

(ha)
Zone III
Zone II
43644
12473

(cm)
>20

Zone III
42275

Zone II
12454

Zone I
48265

40
>40

29910

10720

38351

31382

>60

17552

8440

27012

>80

7389

4844

>100

2729

>120
>140
>160
>180
>200

962
454
295
194
113

Difference (ha)
Zone I
40037

Zone III
1369

Zone II
18

Zone I
-8228

10634

29088

1472

-86
86

-9264
9264

19351

8525

18147

1799

85

-8865

15164

8630

5472

7972

1240

628

-7192

1959

5723

3154

2353

2438

425

394

-3285

631
154
44
11
4

1200
104
20
3
1

1018
459
296
195
113

694
167
36
11
3

519
73
13
2
0

55
5
1
0
0

63
13
-8
0
0

-681
681
-31
-7
-2
0

Hydraulic
y
modelling
g
U
Upstream
fl
flood
d

Upstream flood

Studied area
Upstream flood

Tidal effect and

sea level rise

Impacts
p
of Climate Changes
g on Urban Flooding
g
CASE STUDY
Nhieu Loc -Thi Nghe Project

Project
j outline
Catchment area:

3500 ha.

Cost:

USD 300 Mn.

Situation:

Under construction phase

Flooding prediction
under
d extreme
t
rainfall
i f ll events
t ((with
ith tid
tide gate)
t )

Rainfall
volume (mm)

Flooded area
(ha)

Rainfall
volume (mm)

Flooded area
(ha)

100

40.1

200

926

As heavy rainfall event keeps on increasing as resulted by Urban Heat Island effect, the
project performance would be reduced remarkably.

Results and discussion

Climate changes may result in
non--stationary time series of rainfall
non
and water level and require new
analysis approaches.
approaches.

Climate changes would reduce

performance of urban drainage
projects
j
remarkably
k bl as conventional
i l
solutions may be inappropriate.

Tide control measures alone could

not solve the flood problems
problems.

An integrated strategy is required

required..

Integrated
g
Strategy
gy for Urban
Flood Management

Integrated strategy of urban flood management

to adapt with Uncertainties
Adaptation

Protection

Retreat

A sustainable urban flood management strategy should include

Ad
Adaptation
i andd Retreat components.
The optimal balance among the 3 components may vary with
location and/or time and should be decided by a robust DSS.

Integrated strategy of urban flood management

to adapt with Uncertainties
Mostlyy constructional solutions
Based on statistical extrapolation, therefore incapable to adapt with
Uncertainties
Easy to implement, applied dominantly

Protection

Adaptation/
Mitigation

Retreat

Community consensus is essential

Applied to existing urbanized areas, social impacts are important
Partly engineering job, inter-disciplinary cooperation
Difficult to implement

Decided in Planning phase

promisingg approach
pp
to cope
p with Uncertainties
Most p
Very difficult to implement for urban areas.

Protection:: SProtection
S-Principles
OFT:
An important principle of Sustainable Urban Flood Management
is to introduce SOFT components, which can be adjusted to adapt
with UNCERTAINTIES of urban development and climate
changes.
ELF REGULATION:
p
p
j
g
Urban development
projects
should not overload neighborhoods
with excess runoff or reduction of original discharge capacity.
CATTERED:
Distributed systems for various flexibility, -adaptability and -risk
probability.
YSTEMATIC:
Operation should be centralized and early-warning based.

C
Conclusions
l i

Results and discussion

The Tide Control Project using large polder is even approved,
still controversial.

Results and discussion

The water level rise in Saigon river so far is mostly human
human--induced impacts.
impacts.
The inundation is intensified by land subsidence.
subsidence
An integrated approach is needed.
needed. It should be not only sustainable but also
economical and environmental
environmental.
City planning should be synchronized with flood management not superiority.
superiority.

Conclusions
While sea level rise is still a potential danger,
danger
negative impacts of human-induced activities have
been direct causes of the urban flood in HCMC
HCMC.

Protection
Protection measures
measures using Hard solution may
not capable to cope with such Uncertainties.

Conclusions
A dynamic balance among Protection,
Protection Adaptation
and Retreat is requirement for the flood sustainable
management strategy and can be determined by a
robust DSS.

The flood management is no more sole engineering

job but rather integrated and multi-disciplinary.
multi-disciplinary

Conclusions
Community- and Real Estate Developer
involvement in Flood management is essential.

A new structure of involvement should be

introduced to moderate substantial differences
among stakeholders
stakeholders.

Thank you for your attention

hlphi@hcmut.edu.vn