The downstream approach and the firefighting approach we use to throw at existing perennial problems like flooding must stop. Anyone who bets on Accra Floods yearly will always win.
Clearing buildings on water ways is a micro solution and it hardly solves the problem. Sometimes it just seems wanton destruction. The high cost of rent in Accra has thrown many of the poor, the vulnerable and the middle class to spread building properties all over the peri-urban areas. Some built in waterlog areas. The numerous roofing sheets that such buildings have pour out as much water as unnecessary and since there are no reservoirs to contain the rain water, all runoff water moves to flood parts of their residence and the rest move to flood the city as well.
Our attitude of throwing rubbish into drains and not sweeping our streets all create no space for water to move. Our gutters are seen as containers of solid waste rather than channels that will convey water.
What could be our solution? A plethora of historical and modern solutions exist for what we call a problem. Among such solutions are: town Council summons,
firm political and national will,
attitudinal change campaign,
tough building regulations,
creation of domestic reservoirs,
growing of grass and keeping of lawns, preservation of Ramsar Sites,
regular unclogging of drains and
sweeping of streets,
regular dredging of dams and creation of water collection basins.
SOLUTIONS IN DETAIL
- Town Council summons: Sometime ago, during the PNDC era, Town Council Sanitation officers inspected everywhere in an area including bathrooms to make sure good hygiene was ensured. This halted especially with the onset of our 4th Republic. The practice must be reenacted to ensure proper hygiene in our communities. It will also help in keeping our environments clean.
- Firm political and national will must be enforced. It is said, where there is a will there is a way. Our politicians often like blame shifting for everything including issues that include force majeure. We must desist from such an attitude which is often mentioned in the name of political equalization. Politicians are scared of enforcing the law to move people and discomfort those whose activities create social and environmental problems. The threat of “we will not vote for your party” cowers many politicians. Emperor Cromwell was not liked by the British for introducing hefty taxes against environmental misconducts but his forceful leadership made the British love cleanliness. They stopped defecating in rivers and urinating anywhere among other deviant activities. We must work collectively to ensure a comfortable today and a better future tomorrow for our progeny.
- Attitudinal change campaigns must be carried out by the NCCE and hosts of radio and tv programs. Instead of using our radio and tv stations to talk politics as breakfast, elevenses, snack, lunch, brunch and supper, we must rather use the power of the traditional as well as modern media to beat the nation to shape. Common hours (say 12:00pm before news) must be dedicated collectively by all media channels in unison to enforce national interest and attitudinal change. NCCE Officials, NADMO Officials, etc. must be given the chance to talk at least for 5 minutes after the national anthem at such times.
- Tough building regulations must be carried out. Buildings often spring up to roofing level or even residence before “stop work and produce permit by…” is written on it. Community leaders who sell lands must be in touch with the assemblies to ensure the right thing is done to prevent wanton springing up of buildings.
Again, the need for national housing in the city is essential. Rich estate developers continue to develop skyscrapers in the city and drive the poor and vulnerable into slums or distant uncompleted residences. The numerous roofs we create create more floods since waters from the highlands stream down to the plain areas in the city. Condominiums should not be the option but the option. Ground buildings which take so much space in their numbers must give way to collective buildings. Our attitude of owning self-compounds must give way to shared properties.
- Creation of domestic reservoirs at such a time is a sine qua non. If every water is made to stream past in our homes, we must be in the know that we are part of the problem. Sometime ago, concrete reservoirs were made. Today, plastic reservoirs exist: Wata Tank, Polytank, etc. Households must be implored to keep such reservoirs in numbers or as they choose to help curb the menace of inundation of our cities.
- Growing of grass and keeping of lawns does not only provide a cherished natural ambiance but also provide a natural avenue to curb flooding. The holes bored by worms under grasses make grasses to contain more water than could be imagined. Keeping grasses at home provides jobs for gardeners and also natural refreshment for inhabitants.
- Preservation of Ramsa Sites is essential. Such sites, which are constantly being pushed into extinction through filling in with gravel and boulders by the rich and estate developers must be seen as a criminal activity. Such sites provide natural ecosystems that retain water and preserve birds and animal species. Such sites must be guarded and fenced off.
- Regular unclogging of drains
and sweeping of streets must be done. Our streets gather sand to the extent that even “forests” grow on them. Who has not seen corn, cassava and pawpaw grown on our streets to the common praise “our land is fertile and even on the street plants grow”? National and communal activity of having streets swept will help prevent the clogging of vents that should let water into the gutters they line. Drains could also be unclogged quarterly since we have not made up our minds to have them empty. - Regular Dredging of dams must be carried out. Having water flowed into dams overtime brings about siltation which with time reduces the volume of water the dam could contain. I see the regular spilling of dams sometimes as “intentional cause of destruction” due to lack of dredging. We must have schedules to dredge dams and river basins, say in every 5 or ten years. If such schedules are not carried out, we will continue to be spilling water to destroy lives and properties.
- My few trips in the West African Subregion have shown that some of our neighbors have created water collection points in their cities to curb flooding. Some of these places are so decorated that they have become tourist attractions. I am yet to see one such water collection point in this country. Are we developing or are we destroying ourselves? I think the latter, not the former, will answer for us. There must be the creation of various water collection basins such as: retention ponds, storm reservoirs, balancing ponds and drainage canals throughout the country. Numerous dams and canals must also be created along rivers and in valleys to promote agriculture.
It’s my firm belief that when such measures are put in place, the problem of perennial flooding throughout the country will be heavily, if not permanently, solved.
Let our leaders and all of us put on our thinking caps before we all sink with the nation. God bless the motherland.
Yours in national assignment,
Credit: Bishop McEL-Thompson Semiheva.