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19 April 2024

The Green Community in Dubai is being flooded...

Published
By Majorie van Leijen

Even when the sun shines bright, residents of The Green Community West have to waddle through water ponds. So much so, more water pumps are being installed to drain rain water into nearby lake.

As much as they enjoy the greenary and the serenity, residents in The Green Comminity are tired of enduring the inconvenience of flood waters.

Between the tiles of the neatly paved streets in this community you can see the evidence of what is called by residents ‘a lake in the street’ at times. White stains are left as traces of the water flooding the streets.

“Green Community West was built at a very low point,” explains Mani, who is working as an irrigation engineer to install the last of seven pumps in the community. “When it rains, all the water collects here and the streets get flooded.”

Green Community is a 67 hectare project of Properties Investment LLC, a joint venture company between Union Properties PJSC and Dubai Investments. Although no comment has been received from the developer on the issue, Mani tells that the problem should be resolved by the installation of water pumps.

“When rain water remains on the surface, these pumps will drain the water and pump it into the lake behind Mariott Hotel,” he explains.

A team of irrigation engineers started installing water pumps in the western section of the community a year ago. Currently six pumps are completed and the last one is about to be done this month.

“Last year we as residents received a notification by mail from Union Properties, explaining that there was a problem with the drainage system in the community, for which the pumps would provide a solution,” says a British resident of Green Community West.

On the Green Community forum, where the water issue is being discussed, residents mention that they have heard about “shifting and sinking houses” and one resident mentioned that her pool had moved.

"I personally did not experience any problems with my villa, but at times the streets get flooded. Last year there were certain points in the community where the water remained at the surface, says the British lady.

By many residents believe that a high water table in the Green Community leads to water floods. “In the 13 years that I have worked in the field, I have seen the water table in this community increase with 1,5 metres,” says Mani. 

However, the irrigation engineer explains that this is not something unique for Green Community. "The high water table is a problem everywhere in Dubai. The problem in Green Community is that it is basically a basin for rain water and that water does not get absorbed easily.”