BAGUIO CITY – The management of SM City Baguio is now showing the way in climate change mitigation and adaptation by putting up its rain catchment facility equivalent to three Olympic-sized swimming pools to be located at the basement of its multi-storey building expansion project.
SM management revealed the rain catchment facility can accommodate at least 6,900 cubic meters of rain water to help mitigate the serious negative effects of the huge volume of water expected from stronger rains due to climate change.
“Climate change is now in our midst and we have to find ways on how to significantly reduce the negative effects on lives. We believe that the put up of the rain catchment facility within our mall expansion project will be part of the solution to the effects of climate change,” the SM management statement stated.
SM management claimed the underground rain catchment facility is a major component of its green building concept that will showcase mixture of green architecture and the latest technologies in the construction industry that will make the facility a model in green architecture in the city.
The mall management believes the rain catchment facility’s ability to hold a huge volume of rain water will effectively and efficiently contribute to efforts in reducing the volume of water going to the city’s drainage systems and road networks, as well as establish a sustainable source of non-potable water that could be used for other purposes such as watering the plants in their landscape, and cleaning the comfort rooms inside the establishments, among others.
According to SM management, excess rain water from the catchment facility will be subsequently recycled through a water treatment plant and reservoir for other uses inside the mall and the neighboring areas.
Part of the benefits of the rain catchment basin will be the reduction of flooding within the SM property and its surrounding areas, especially during heavy rains.
The put up of the catchment facility is part of the compliance of management to earlier repeated appeals from city officials for owners of new buildings in the city to construct their own rain catchment basins within their structures to help in reducing the huge volume of rain water being wasted because it directly flows to the roads and drainage systems.
Based on reports from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) local weather office, Baguio city usually receives a huge amount of rainfall annually as it is frequently visited by numerous weather disturbances, including prolonged southwest monsoon rains that last for two to four weeks.
By HENT
