Flood-free UST coming soon?

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) is known for constantly battling floods that comes even with just the usual rains. But the days of frequent class suspensions due to floodwaters may soon be over.

This after UST announced that its flood mitigation project is nearly complete.

The university’s stormwater drainage project, which was started in 2018, is 75% complete according to UST  Facilities Management Office Director Fr. Dexter Austria O.P.

“UST is in a flood-prone location, and the UST administration thought of having this major renovation and construction, improvement of the drainage,” he said.

“The usual perils of flooding that the Manila campus endures will soon be held at bay, as the stormwater drainage flood mitigation project of the University nears completion,” UST said in a Facebook post.

According to the UST website, the project aims to replace existing drainage lines with a new drainage system and provide detention facilities for floodwater to control water spillage within the 21.5-hectare campus.

Usually, UST is forced to suspend classes even after rains since floodwaters inside the campus takes time to recede.

The university’s official student publication, The Varsitarian, meanwhile released in a special report the expected impact of the new flood mitigation control period.

According to The Varsitarian, the new drainage system could hold floodwaters enough to fill up to 4 and a half olympic-sized pools or 11.25 million liters of water.

“If you’re going to count the volume [of stormwater that the improved drainage could hold], it’s four and a half Olympic-size swimming pools. So that kind of big volume would be accommodated in this drainage improvement system,” FMO Director Fr. Dexter Austria, O.P. said in an interview with CNN Philippines.