Ghana has a serious flood problem after over 60 years of political independence due to poor drainage. Drains are constructed to ensure that waste water and sewage are transported neatly to disposal points, thereby keeping the environment clean and free of waste.
In many parts of Accra today, there is a great need for properly managed sustainable drains in order to help manage surface water runoff.
Residents regularly dump their waste in gutters, and this clogs the gutters and prevents the flow of water, causing the gutters to overflow.
It is common to see flooded area with litter floating everywhere after a short period of rainfall. Such situations create very unsanitary conditions for residents of the neighborhoods and contribute to the degradation of the environment.
Before the rains, Works and Housing Minister together with his team toured some major drains in Accra to access how his ministry could help address the challenge. He told journalists the World Bank had approved $200 million for the reconstruction of the main drainage system that causes flooding in Accra, the Odaw River.
After the tour, Minister Samuel
Atta Akyea joined the lamentation.
Soon after the minister’s tour, Dredge Masters
Limited began dredging the Odaw drain to prevent another flooding disaster.
The Operation Manager of Dredge Masters Limited, Sena Adiepena, told Adom News the company is working day and night to restore drainage efficiency and holding capacity of the channel and lagoon to avert flooding.
The mindboggling question Adom News Reporter Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa Asks; what has changed after all the ‘vulture attitude’ (okyena besi me dan) which was exhibited?
A visit to the banks of the Odaw drain by Adom News showed some parts of the drain taken over by weeds; sand and other waste materials are all competing for space in the drain although de-silting was ongoing.
Some Avenor residents told Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa that governments have failed in that regard.
At Abofu, residents are living in fear as floodwaters and erosion threatens to displace them from their homes. The situation is as a result of the deterioration of the Achimota-Odaw drain, which has fallen apart, after years of neglect.
The drain, constructed under the
Kufuor administration, has seen some of its slabs detach from the main
structure and are now into the drain, impeding the smooth flow of water.
For instance, a huge gulley had developed on the
path leading to the GH Media School, making the road impossible to traverse.
This young lady was captured by the lenses of our camera shamefully dumping refuse into the drain.
News team tried to stop her, but the distance could not allow as she runs into her room.
Some residents reacted to the state of the collapsed drain describing it as a death-trap.
The situation is even worse at Nima as poorly maintained drain and poor waste management habits have adversely affected the area mainly in flooding, erosion, insanitary conditions.
Flooding is a common phenomenon whenever there is a downpour which leads to loss of human life, damage to property, and loss of livestock.
The residents near the drainage system are currently living in fear and sitting on a time bomb.
Many sides of the drain have been washed away and gullies created as a result of flooding. The problem of poor drain at Maamobi that governments tried to address has created even worse spectacle there.
Stagnation of water occurs when water passages are blocked. This makes the people around the drain vulnerable to infections from mosquitoes and other insects.Â
Kids, saddened with the situation of choked and danger that the gutters posed to them passionately, appealed to authorities to address the challenge.
Source: Adomonline.com | Adom News | Amos Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa Kwofie