I believe the way forward in dealing with the flood situation in the country is for waste management and good environmental practices to be taught in our schools, especially at the basic level.
This is because children are normally those who carry waste to the disposal sites. What I have realised is that sometimes when they go there and the refuse container is full, they just dump the refuse anywhere and go away.
But I believe if children are taught the negative effects of dumping refuse anywhere at all, they will not do that.
I have also realised that our attitude is one of the major causes of floods in the country. This is because we do not do the right things. For instance, we do not consult the Town and Country Planning Department before we put up buildings. It is about time people accepted that floods can be prevented if we all learn to do the right things.
It hurts me a lot when I hear people ask the government to construct more drainage systems. This is because the very people who ask for these are those who have turned our gutters into waste bins just because they do not want to pay any money for dumping refuse at designated dumping sites.
Because of their behaviour, many students have had their homes flooded during the rains, thereby affecting their academic work.
My school, Bompeh Senior High School, for instance, got flooded during the recent rains and we are now working hard to make up for the days lost.
Floods are natural disasters but in our case we caused them because we have turned our gutters into waste bins.
The recent rains have taught us some painful lessons which I hope we will not forget even when the rains stop. The rains should provide us the opportunity to change our negative attitudes.
During the recent downpour in the Takoradi Metropolis, I saw how dangerous floods could be. Many houses in the metropolis got flooded and properties worth thousands of Ghana cedis were destroyed.
In our school, for instance, by the time the rains stopped, it had left a heap of rubbish on the compound which disrupted academic work for days.
I believe this could have been prevented if we had not thrown waste materials into gutters. Sometimes we think throwing only one empty sachet or a piece of paper into the gutter will not cause any harm, forgetting that if everybody drops one plastic bag into the gutter, it will build up with time.
So each individual should act responsibly to ensure that we do not create more problems for ourselves. We should also ensure good environmental practices and not leave everything to Zoomlion and other waste management companies.
We cannot continue to count our losses during every rainy season. As citizens, we all have a role to play in ensuring that we do not experience floods again. Students of this school have started by ensuring that our compound is always kept clean.
Dust bins have also been provided to ensure that students do not litter the compound. I believe that with these measures being put in place, even if in future there is any flood here, its impact will be minimal.
I hope we also give government agencies, such as the Town and Country Planning Department, the free hand to enable them do their work well.
No comments:
Post a Comment