In deep trouble

深陷困境

Climate change is forcing Asian cities to rethink their flood defences

氣候變化迫使亞洲城市重新考慮防洪措施

Climate issue: Expensive engineering is no match for Mother Nature

氣候問題:昂貴的工程無法與大自然抗衡

Sep 21st 2019 | JAKARTA AND SINGAPORE

Sep 21st 2019 |?雅加達(dá)（印度尼西亞首都）和新加坡

IN NORTH JAKARTA, not far from a quayside where workers unload frozen mackerel, a derelict building stands a metre deep in murky water. The warehouse was flooded in 2007, after torrential rains and a tidal surge submerged half the city under nearly four metres of water, displacing half a million people and causing $550m in damage. The building has remained inundated and abandoned ever since—barring the hardy soul who seems to be camping on the first floor, aided by a rowing boat.

在雅加達(dá)北部，離工人們卸載冷凍鯖魚的碼頭不遠(yuǎn)處，一座廢棄的建筑矗立在一米深的渾水中。2007年，暴雨和海嘯將半個城市淹沒在近4米深的水下，導(dǎo)致50萬人流離失所，造成5.5億美元的損失，倉庫被淹沒。從那以后，這棟建筑就一直被淹沒和遺棄——除了那些在一艘劃艇的幫助下，依舊扎營的頑強(qiáng)的靈魂。

詞匯

Quayside/ ?碼頭周圍地區(qū)，碼頭邊

Mackerel/鯖（產(chǎn)于北大西洋）；馬鮫魚

Derelict/廢的，被棄置的，破舊的

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Floods have always plagued Jakarta, but in recent years they have become more severe. Many other cities in Asia are menaced by the same phenomenon. As the planet heats up, sea levels are rising. Heavy rainstorms are also becoming more frequent and tropical cyclones more intense. And Asia’s coastal cities are growing, even as the risk of flooding increases. The number of people living in flood plains in Asia is expected to more than double between 2000 and 2060, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As cities grow, they exacerbate flood-risk by covering ground that would once have absorbed water with concrete and asphalt. The amount and value of the property at risk also grows. Thirteen of the 20 cities projected to have the biggest increases in annual losses caused by flooding between 2005 and 2050 are in Asia.

洪水一直困擾著雅加達(dá)，但近年來變得更加嚴(yán)重。亞洲許多其他城市也面臨著同樣的現(xiàn)象。隨著地球變暖，海平面正在上升。暴雨也越來越頻繁，熱帶氣旋也越來越強(qiáng)烈。盡管洪水風(fēng)險增加，亞洲沿海城市仍在發(fā)展。據(jù)亞洲開發(fā)銀行(ADB)預(yù)測，在2000年至2060年間，亞洲洪泛區(qū)的人口數(shù)量將增加一倍以上。隨著城市的發(fā)展，它們用混凝土和瀝青覆蓋了原本會吸水的土地，從而加劇了洪水風(fēng)險。風(fēng)險資產(chǎn)的數(shù)量和價值也在增長。2005年至2050年間，預(yù)計(jì)20個城市中有13個城市因洪水造成的年度損失增幅最大，而這些城市位于亞洲。

詞匯

Plague/困擾

Exacerbate/使加?。皇箰夯?/p>

Asphalt/瀝青；柏油

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Jakarta exemplifies the typical response to rising tides and swelling rains. Though Akuarium, a neighbourhood of shanties, is on the coast, it is impossible to see the sea from its dirt streets. A three-metre-tall sea wall stands in the way. For centuries Jakarta’s authorities have dispatched engineers to hold back the rising waters. In the 18th century they built flood canals; in the 19th century, retention ponds. After the floods of 2007 they raised the existing 30km-long sea wall, widened and dredged the canal system and dug more retention ponds. The idea that the water would recede if only nature could be tamed still motivates Indonesia’s planners. After another disastrous flood in 2013, the president of the day instructed his ministers to be bolder. The result was the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD), a $40bn mega-project consisting of a 25km outer sea wall and 17 artificial islands which would seal off Jakarta Bay.

雅加達(dá)例示了對漲潮和暴雨的典型反應(yīng)。雖然Akuarium【有“魚缸”的意思】，一個棚戶區(qū)，駐扎在海岸上，從它的骯臟的街道上是不可能看到海面的。一道三米高的海堤擋住了去路。幾個世紀(jì)以來，雅加達(dá)當(dāng)局一直派遣工程師控制不斷上漲的水位。在18世紀(jì)，他們建造了防洪運(yùn)河;在19世紀(jì)，他們建造了蓄水池。2007年洪水過后，他們將現(xiàn)有的30公里長的海堤抬高，拓寬并疏浚了運(yùn)河系統(tǒng)，并挖了更多的蓄水池。只要大自然能被馴服，海水就會退去的想法仍然激勵著印尼的規(guī)劃者。在2013年另一場災(zāi)難性的洪水之后，時任印度尼西亞的總統(tǒng)指示他的部長們要更加大膽。其結(jié)果是國家首都沿海綜合開發(fā)(NCICD)，這是一個耗資400億美元的大型項(xiàng)目，包括一個25公里長的外海堤和17個將封鎖雅加達(dá)灣的人工島。

詞匯

Dredge/（用挖泥船等）疏浚；（用拖撈網(wǎng)等）撈取

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The plan was controversial because of its huge cost, the damage it would do to the maritime ecosystem in the enclosed bay and the fact that it did not deal with a significant cause of flooding in Jakarta: subsidence. Though the sea is rising by 0.8cm a year, parts of northern, coastal Jakarta are sinking by 25cm a year, according to Heri Andreas, a geologist at the Bandung Institute of Technology. At least 40% of residents tap into aquifers, either because they are not connected to mains water or, if they are, because their supply is unreliable and dirty. As they drain the water from under their feet, the soil is compressed. Forty percent of Jakarta is now below sea level. This means that water in the drainage system that would otherwise empty into the bay remains trapped in the city. And as Jakarta sinks, it is dragging its dykes down with it.

這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃備受爭議，因?yàn)樗馁Y巨大，會對封閉海灣的海洋生態(tài)系統(tǒng)造成破壞，而且沒有解決雅加達(dá)洪水的一個重要原因: 地層下陷。萬隆理工學(xué)院(Bandung Institute of Technology)地質(zhì)學(xué)家赫里安德里亞斯(Heri Andreas)表示，盡管海平面每年上升0.8厘米，但雅加達(dá)北部沿海的部分地區(qū)正以每年25厘米的速度下沉。至少有40%的居民使用含水層，要么是因?yàn)樗麄儧]有連接到自來水管道，要么是因?yàn)楣┧豢煽壳椅廴緡?yán)重。當(dāng)它們把腳下的水排干時，土壤就被壓緊。雅加達(dá)現(xiàn)在有40%的地區(qū)低于海平面。這意味著原本排入海灣的排水系統(tǒng)中的水仍然被困在城市里。隨著雅加達(dá)下沉，堤壩也隨之下沉。

詞匯

Maritime/海運(yùn)的，航海的

Dyke/堤

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Building the plants and pipes to supply treated water is expensive and time-consuming, however, and the result is hidden out of sight. The NCICD plan, in contrast, would have sculpted 1,000 hectares of reclaimed land into a new waterfront city in the shape of a garuda, a mythical bird that is the symbol of Indonesia. “By developing North Jakarta, the project promises to [fulfil] the world-class city aspirations of Indonesia’s political elites,” writes Emma Colven of the University of Oklahoma. “People want to see visible infrastructure,” says Srinivasan Ancha of the ADB.

然而，建造工廠和管道來供應(yīng)經(jīng)過處理的水是昂貴且費(fèi)時的，而且這項(xiàng)工作的成效不易被人們發(fā)覺。相比之下，NCICD的計(jì)劃則是將1000公頃的填海造地塑造成一個新的海濱城市，形狀像鷹，一種神話中的鳥，是印度尼西亞的象征。俄克拉荷馬大學(xué)（University of Oklahoma）的艾瑪?科爾文（Emma Colven）寫道:“通過開發(fā)雅加達(dá)北部，該項(xiàng)目有望實(shí)現(xiàn)印尼政治精英對世界級城市的抱負(fù)?！眮喼揲_發(fā)銀行的Srinivasan Ancha說:“人們希望看到有形的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施?！?/p>

詞匯

Treated/已處理過的

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In August the government signalled a change of tack. It announced plans to clean Jakarta’s public water supply and connect the entire city to it in an effort to stop groundwater extraction. The NCICD plan has also been revised. The sea wall will no longer enclose the bay, and the artificial islands have been scrapped, although 2,000 hectares of land will still be reclaimed for development. The cost has fallen by half.

今年8月，政府發(fā)出了改變策略的信號。他宣布了清潔雅加達(dá)公共供水系統(tǒng)的計(jì)劃，并將整個城市與之連接起來，以阻止地下水的開采。NCICD計(jì)劃也已修訂。海堤將不再包圍海灣，人工島嶼也已廢棄，盡管仍將開墾2000公頃土地用于開發(fā)。但成本下降了一半。

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Jakarta is not the only Asian city to get cold feet about big engineering schemes in recent years, and to embrace cheaper flood-control measures. The most notable convert is Singapore, which is no stranger to monumental waterworks. It recently completed a vast underground retention pond at a cost of S$227m ($164m), a cathedral of concrete buttresses fed and drained by pipes you could drive a car through. The city is so proud of Marina Barrage, a system of huge pumps and nine 27-metre-long hydraulic gates to stop the business district flooding, that it has turned the S$226m facility into a tourist attraction. Over the past decade it has spent a total of S$2.4bn on drains. Yet as the tiny city-state runs out of space for colossal new structures, and as ever more torrential storms threaten to overwhelm even the new, improved drainage network, Singapore has had to rethink the way it manages storm water.

近年來，雅加達(dá)并不是唯一一個對大型工程項(xiàng)目望而卻步的亞洲城市，它還采取了更廉價的防洪措施。最引人注目的轉(zhuǎn)變是新加坡，它對大型自來水廠并不陌生。它最近建成了一個耗資2.27億新元(合1.64億美元)的巨大地下蓄水池，這是一座由混凝土支撐的大教堂，你可以開車通過管道將其填滿和排水。濱海灣攔河壩(Marina Barrage)是新加坡的驕傲，它是一個由巨大的水泵和9個27米長的液壓閘門組成的系統(tǒng)，用來阻止商業(yè)區(qū)的洪水泛濫。在過去10年里，新加坡在排水方面總共花費(fèi)了24億新元。然而，由于這個小小的城市國家已經(jīng)沒有足夠的空間建造巨大的新建筑，而且越來越多的暴雨甚至有可能淹沒新的、經(jīng)過改善的排水網(wǎng)絡(luò)，新加坡不得不重新思考其管理暴雨水的方式。

詞匯

Monumental/非常大的；重要的；意義深遠(yuǎn)的

Cathedral/大教堂

buttresses/橋墩

Hydraulic/液壓的；水力的；水力學(xué)的

?

In 2006 Singapore launched a scheme to increase the city’s absorption capacity by natural means, by converting canals and reservoirs into streams and lakes and by creating wetlands and other spaces designed to flood. Swamps, after all, can absorb potentially ruinous floods, while mangrove forests can protect cities near the coast from storm surges. Maintaining them is much cheaper than building dykes. Singapore completed 75 projects to mimic such natural flood defences between 2010 and 2018. The scheme, which also helps to harvest rainwater, is the first of its kind in the tropics. But the rest of Asia, with far less to spend on colossal flood defences, will surely follow suit.

2006年，新加坡啟動了一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃，通過將運(yùn)河和水庫改造成河流和湖泊，以及創(chuàng)建濕地和其他設(shè)計(jì)用于防洪的空間，通過自然方式提高城市的吸收能力。畢竟，沼澤可以吸收潛在的毀滅性洪水，而紅樹林可以保護(hù)沿海城市免受風(fēng)暴潮的侵襲。維護(hù)它們比建造堤壩要便宜得多。新加坡在2010年至2018年期間完成了75個類似的天然防洪工程。該計(jì)劃還有助于收集雨水，而且是熱帶地區(qū)的第一個此類計(jì)劃。但是亞洲的其他國家，由于沒有那么多的錢來建造巨大的防洪設(shè)施，肯定會效仿。

詞匯

Reservoir/水庫

Mangrove/紅樹林