Flood Management Strategies With Green Infrastructure

Climate change has resulted in increased temperatures which have led to excessive rains.Flooding roads and neighbourhoods in Maseru bring traffic and movement both cars and pedestrians difficult during heavy rains which also destroy infrastructure,private property and loss of economy.This paper seeks to assess possible flood management strategies with green infrastructure that can be adopted in planning frameworks.These were achieved by using a mixed method of study that helped in interviewing different department and Identifying and mapping of flash floods hotspots in Maseru city catchment to know their characteristics.The mapping helped in selecting the best suitable green infrastructure approach which can help lower runoff.In finding possible strategies which can be adopted to lower runoff in Maseru city,a review of the literature was done to find out what other countries did to minimize runoff.The design of runoff drainage system in Maseru city was done decades ago when population growth was low with fewer developments.The results also revealed that the said runoff drainage system can no longer accommodate the amount of runoff due to change in land-use land-cover.The public’ behaviour also contributes to the clogging of drains by throwing garbage everywhere.Having said this;the study also discovered that some public members have built their houses on the unplanned areas where they find themselves blocking natural streams thus resulting in flash floods.More results show that green infrastructure is a new subjects which need sensitization to the public in order to make it a success.Maseru city has some already existing green infrastructure mainly parks and tree trenches and from the findings,it became clear that some of the trees are cut down by the public and due to lack of surveillance infrastructure in the city it is difficult to trace down people who are responsible for such acts.