Govt. Implements Mobile Flood Solution in Lagos Community

The Lagos State Government has started implementation of the innovative mobile flood barrier and management solution called “SLAMDAM”.

Director, Lagos State Drainage and Planning Services, Tayo Fagbeku said in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos that the implementation began at Omojuwa Estate in Kosofe Local Government Area.

SLAMDAM is an easily deployable water-filled flood barrier.

The innovative project is implemented as part of the Adaptation Benefit Mechanism programmed by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Fagbeku said that the state decided to be part of the project because it is not averse to innovative ideas that would be of benefit to the people.

“This innovative project will also contribute to the various solutions we have in managing floods in Lagos.

“We express our delight at this development and the result of this pilot has been excellent and encouraging.

“The project aims to implement innovative solutions to mitigate flood risks and strengthen resilience to climate change-induced flooding at the community level.

”The project is designed to implement a small-scale high-impact highly replicable climate change adaptation demonstration technique with a focus on the water sector in Nigeria,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer, Natural Eco Capital, Dr Eugene Itua said that the pilot started in Kosofe and Iponri communities in the state.

Itua said that SLAMDAM and other associated types of equipment were being given free of charge through the AfDB supported project.

He noted that an interesting aspect of the entire solution was that water was being used to fight water.

Also, The Project Lead Consultant and Chief Executive Officer, Zephyr, Omar Saleh, said that the location was selected through interaction with relevant stakeholders, field visits and hydrodynamic modeline software.

According to Saleh, this is followed by determining the deployment strategy and locations for the flood barrier.

He said that the project also developed and tested the ABM methodology, with an innovative method to support rapid mobilisation of funding to further scale-up climate adaptive measures such as SLAMDAM.

In his contribution, Community leader in Omojuwa Estate, Charles Otabor said that the project team trained some members of the community as the initial  flood response team.

Otabor said that the first responders who had been trained with hands-on demonstration of the technology showed the people that the technology was simple for anyone to use without a degree from the university.

He promised that the people would utilise the equipment appropriately for the benefit of the community and the state.

SLAMDAM is the only manufacturer of a TUV-certified temporary dam in the world and was  awarded the most effective solution against floods in 2018 in a defense competition.