The reporter learned from the Lhasa Municipal Engineering Maintenance and Management Office that recently, Lhasa urban area has taken measures such as special dredging, renovation, new drainage pipe construction, and unclogging according to different situations to solve road water accumulation problems. Among them, building Lhasa into a "sponge city" is an important part. Up to now, the Lhasa Municipal Engineering Maintenance and Management Office has renovated and laid more than 25,000 square meters of permeable bricks.
　　Like a sponge, solving urban waterlogging problems
　　The most notable characteristic of a sponge is its strong water absorption. In our daily lives, we can see the water-absorbing charm of sponges everywhere. For example, when water spills on a table, we can place a sponge on the water surface, and instantly the water can be absorbed. Similarly, building a "sponge city" means turning the city's floor tiles into something like sponges with strong water absorption characteristics. "Sponge city" is a new generation of urban stormwater management concept, which has good "elasticity" for road water absorption, storage, infiltration, purification, and natural disasters caused by rainwater.
　　Tashi Lhawang, director of the Lhasa Municipal Engineering Maintenance and Management Office, introduced that road water accumulation is caused by multiple factors. For example, during the rainy season in Tibet, affected by continuous rainstorm weather, rainwater cannot flow into the rainwater wells on both sides of the road in time, but instead flows to low-lying areas on the road surface; rainwater flows into underground pipes, increasing the drainage pressure of sewage pipes, and various other reasons lead to road water accumulation.
　　"From the situation in previous years, the water accumulation problem in Lhasa urban area is very troublesome. Due to the poor rainwater infiltration capacity of old floor tiles, the accumulated water that cannot flow into rainwater wells in time will accumulate on the road surface, bringing a lot of inconvenience to citizens' travel," said Tashi Lhawang.
　　Laying permeable bricks to improve urban living comfort
　　Tashi Lhawang introduced that in recent years, under the background of taking measures such as special dredging, renovation, new drainage pipe construction, and unclogging to solve urban water accumulation, and in accordance with the requirements for building a sponge city in Lhasa, the Lhasa Municipal Engineering Maintenance and Management Office in 2016 renovated the colored bricks on the sidewalks of Niangre South Road and Linkuo North Road into permeable bricks, allowing rainwater to directly infiltrate into the soil, thereby avoiding water accumulation and greatly helping flood discharge during the flood season in Lhasa. At the same time, rainwater infiltrates into the land through permeable bricks, providing more water to plants around the roads.
　　It is reported that the Lhasa Municipal Engineering Maintenance and Management Office has laid permeable bricks at places such as the section from Wucha Road Intersection to Linkuo East Road, part of Tajie Guowa Road, part of the section around the Water Park on Sela Road, and part of Zhaji West Road.
　　On the sidewalks where permeable bricks have been replaced, after rain, citizens can clearly feel that the rainwater infiltration capacity is better than before. "I saw staff from the maintenance office replacing floor tiles on Niangre Road before. The light gray floor tiles are very beautiful. When it rains, rainwater can seep under the tiles, so pedestrians don't have to walk in water," said citizen Xiao Zhang. Tashi Lhawang also said that in order to overall improve the comfort of urban life, Lhasa has plans to gradually replace the city's floor tiles with permeable bricks.