PROBLEMATIC OF STORM WATER MANAGEMENT IN CITIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CASE OF SANTHIABA AND BELFORT DISTRICT (COMMUNE OF ZIGUINCHOR, SENEGAL)

Abstract

This research study, which deals with sanitation issues in sub-Saharan urban areas, is of great interest. Since most cities in the South suffer from these issues related to climate variability, but also to the problem of development and application of urban easements (easements constructions). A more refined search is carried out in two districts of the city of Ziguinchor (South of Senegal) Santhiaba and Belfort relying mainly on the socio-economic variables to identify and understand the different methods of adaptation used by the populations in period heavy rain. The objective of this research study is to show the techniques adopted by the inhabitants of these precarious neighborhoods in order to cancel the flood problems. To print more objectivity and efficiency in this research, we favored a descriptive, qualitative and quantitative analytical approach. It is based on an administration of an interview guide to 13 actors who are active in the environmental management at the local level, a questionnaire submitted to 288 heads of households in the neighborhoods of Belfort and Santhiaba. The results obtained attest to a real problem of drainage of rainwater at these two sites. In response to stormwater management, people have developed initiatives to deal with it. They rest on the embankment, the sandbagging and the stones, the evacuation through buckets, etc. In reality, these strategies are almost useless in sites constrained by soil and hydrogeological characteristics favorable to floods and these corollaries.