Quezon City has put in place a rainwater detention basin beneath the covered court of Masambong Elementary School to help ease flooding during heavy rains. The underground facility can store up to 200 cubic meters of water, equivalent to about the capacity of a backyard pool or nine years’ worth of daily showers.
The school has faced serious flooding. In an August 10 road status report, the city recorded knee-deep water, about 19 inches, at Masambong Elementary School. Quezon City Joy Belmonte said the basin was installed to address flooding that repeatedly affects the campus during heavy rain.
The basin is designed to collect rainwater beneath the court and hold it temporarily while the rain is heaviest. This slows the amount of water entering the surrounding drainage system at once. The court can continue to serve as a school facility above the underground storage area.
The school project joins other detention basins built beneath covered courts in Barangay Sta. Monica and Tandang Sora. Those facilities have much larger stated capacities of approximately 1,700 and 1,256 cubic meters, respectively. Quezon City is also building basins along G. Araneta Avenue under its wider drainage and flood control program.
At the Gloria 2 covered court in Tandang Sora, the city also installed a rainwater harvesting system with two tanks that can collect up to 7,500 liters. Quezon City has built a detention basin at Quezon Memorial Circle as well, extending its use of temporary rainwater storage beyond covered courts.
