An Approach towards Effective Storm Water Drainage and Management System in Yenagoa City, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Yenagoa, capital city of Bayelsa State, lies in floodplain and surrounded by freshwater swamp and tributaries of the Nun River, Ekole and Epie Creeks, lakes and other natural drainage paths. But the City is annually inundated most times of the year. The goal of this research is to assess and recommend an effective storm water management system in the city. Objectives of the study include: assessing the challenges posed by storm water, identify climatic and hydrological settings of the study area, (c) develop an effective management strategy to mitigate the problem. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted and purposively select 6 communities from 22 identified communities, 95 questionnaires were administered. Spearman Rank Correlation was used to test the relationship between adequacy of drains and annual flooding incidence. The study found that; extensive uncontrolled development on wetlands fuelled rapid urbanisation, lack of drainage in many communities and the major roads in the city, development along natural drainage paths and poor waste management practices, thus blocking the natural paths of storm water flow and storm water challenges have caused environmental, health, economic and social problems for the residents. The study recommends that the 2004 Yenagoa Master be implemented and adopt the modified 2002 Model of Urban Storm water Improvement Conceptualisation (MUSIC) framework. Communities should be planned and appropriately laid out before development commences. Drainages should be provided with roads and linked to the natural discharge points. Natural drainage paths and wetlands should be cleared with adequate storm water infrastructure provided.