04/08/2026
🌧️ Before We Blame the Government for Floods…
Every time Kerala experiences heavy rainfall, waterlogging, or floods, social media is quickly filled with criticism against the government.
Certainly, governments and local bodies have important responsibilities:
- Protecting rivers, canals, and natural drainage channels.
- Preventing encroachments on wetlands and floodplains.
- Maintaining storm-water drainage systems.
- Regulating urban development and land use.
- Implementing flood mitigation and watershed management projects.
These responsibilities are real and essential. No one can deny that.
But as a Civil Engineer, I feel there is another question that deserves equal attention:
Are we, as homeowners and property developers, following the basic principles of the Kerala State Building Rules and the National Building Code (NBC) when we develop our own plots?
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🏠 The Problem Often Begins Inside Our Own Compound
Look around many newly developed residential areas in Kerala.
What do we usually see?
- The entire front yard covered with concrete.
- Interlocking blocks laid across almost the whole plot.
- Side setbacks converted into tiled walkways.
- Backyard areas paved for parking or utility purposes.
- Very little natural soil left exposed.
A few decades ago, when rain fell on a property, a significant portion of that water would naturally soak into the ground.
The soil acted like a sponge, temporarily storing water and allowing it to recharge groundwater.
Today, in many urban and semi-urban plots, we have effectively sealed the earth with concrete, tiles, and paving blocks.
When rainwater cannot enter the ground, it has only one option left:
➡️ It becomes surface runoff.
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💧 Where Does That Water Go?
Water always chooses the path of least resistance.
So the rainwater from our roofs and paved courtyards moves like this:
Roof → Courtyard → Driveway → Public Road → Roadside Drain → Stream / River / Low-lying Area
One house may contribute only a small quantity of runoff.
But when hundreds or thousands of houses in the same locality are developed in the same manner, the combined effect becomes enormous.
That is why many places in Kerala now experience waterlogging even during moderate rainfall events that were once considered normal.
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📘 What the National Building Code Actually Emphasizes
Many people think building rules are only about:
- Setbacks
- Building height
- Floor area
- Coverage percentage
But the National Building Code of India also gives importance to:
- Site drainage planning
- Storm-water disposal
- Rainwater harvesting
- Groundwater recharge
- Protection of natural drainage paths
- Preventing adverse impacts on neighboring properties
These are not just technical formalities.
They are fundamental principles of sustainable and flood-resilient development.
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🌱 Every Plot Should Function as a Small Recharge System
A responsible homeowner should consider the plot not merely as a construction site, but as part of a larger watershed system.
✔️ Leave Permeable Areas
Not every square metre needs to be concreted. Soil, grass, gravel, or permeable paving allows rainwater to infiltrate naturally.
✔️ Provide Rainwater Harvesting
Roof water can be collected and directed to storage tanks or recharge pits instead of being discharged directly to the road.
✔️ Construct Recharge Pits / Soak Pits
These structures help return rainwater to the ground and reduce the burden on public drainage systems.
✔️ Preserve Natural Site Slopes
Excessive filling and leveling often block natural water flow paths and redirect water toward neighboring properties or public roads.
✔️ Do Not Discharge Roof Water onto Public Roads
This is a surprisingly common practice. In effect, it transfers a private drainage problem into a public flooding problem.
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🌊 Floods Are Not Caused Only by Rivers
We often hear statements such as:
- “The river was not dredged.”
- “Sand was not removed.”
- “The canal was not cleaned.”
These factors may contribute to flooding in certain situations, but they are not the whole story.
Urban flooding is also caused by:
- Excessive concretization of plots.
- Loss of wetlands and paddy fields.
- Blocked roadside drains.
- Encroachment of natural streams.
- Poor storm-water planning.
- Uncontrolled runoff from private properties.
In many cases, the floodwater entering our streets is not coming directly from the river.
It is coming from thousands of individual roofs, courtyards, and paved compounds.
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🌧️ A Simple Example
Imagine a locality with 1,000 houses.
If each plot prevents just 5,000 litres of rainwater from infiltrating during a heavy rainfall event, the locality generates:
💧 5 million litres of additional surface runoff.
That water must go somewhere.
If the public drainage network was designed for a much smaller runoff volume, flooding becomes almost inevitable.
This is why modern storm-water engineering focuses not only on draining water away quickly, but also on retaining, infiltrating, and slowing down runoff at the source.
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🧠 An Engineer’s Perspective
Before asking:
“Why didn’t the government prevent flooding?”
we should also ask ourselves:
- Have I left enough permeable area in my plot?
- Have I provided rainwater harvesting?
- Does my site drainage follow engineering principles?
- Am I increasing runoff onto public roads or neighboring properties?
- Have I considered how my construction affects the local watershed?
Because the first storm-water management system is not the river, the canal, or the municipal drain.
It is our own roof, courtyard, driveway, and compound.
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🏗️ Flood Resilience Begins at Home
Flood resilience is not created only by dams, rivers, and government projects.
It is created by millions of responsible decisions made on individual plots.
Every homeowner who leaves space for rainwater to enter the ground…
Every builder who designs proper drainage…
Every architect who respects natural contours…
Every engineer who insists on storm-water management…
contributes to reducing the flood risk of the entire community.
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🌱 A Final Thought
When rain falls on our property, we have two choices:
🌿 Option 1
Allow it to recharge the earth, replenish groundwater, and become a resource for the future.
🌊 Option 2
Force it to become rapid surface runoff, adding to the burden on roads, drains, rivers, and low-lying areas.
The difference between these two outcomes is often determined by decisions made during the planning and construction of a single plot.
So before we blame only the government for every flood, let us also examine our own compounds, our own paving, our own drainage arrangements, and our own compliance with the spirit of building rules and the National Building Code.
Because…
«The rain that falls on our land is our first responsibility.
If every plot manages its rainwater responsibly, the entire state becomes more resilient to floods.
Flood resilience is not created only by rivers and government projects—it is created by millions of responsible decisions made by ordinary people on ordinary plots every single day.»
