Flood Control Projects

Maintenance of Urban Infrastructure and River Repair

Motomiya, where the Abukumagawa River runs through, had been affected by the flood a number of times in the past. Recently in 1986, 1998, and 2002 successively, the flooded water came close to overflow the levees.

For that reason, the residents in this area including Motomiya have been demanding the earliest implementation of a flood control program. Furthermore, this area has been designated as the section that requires the maintenance under “the Abukumagawa River System Maintenance Program (the section under the ministerial control)” set out in March 2007.

However, finding an appropriate flood control method had been an outstanding problem, because of the geographic constraint in this area: because the Abukumagawa River was located adjacent to the urban area, the conventional levee installation was expected to have a substantial impact on the urban area.

Implementation of the flood control measure must be preceded by the study of an integrated program that involves not only the river but also the adjacent residential and business areas and road infrastructure. Therefore, the “Motomiya Left Bank Area of the Abukumagawa River Development Council”, consisting of representatives from the regional residents, the scholarly advisory board, the city of Motomiya, and the MLIT, has been studying the flood control program integrated into the community construction.