Environmental engineer Dr Juliet Ohemeng-Ntiamoah has argued that periodic national clean-up exercises are not a lasting solution to Accra’s persistent flooding, insisting that the focus should instead be on addressing structural and engineering deficiencies.
Her comments come after President John Mahama announced that the government is considering setting aside one day every month for a nationwide clean-up exercise, saying the current two-day national exercise is not enough to deal with the scale of sanitation challenges across the country.
The President made the remarks at Alajo in Accra after joining senior government officials to take part in and inspect the start of the two-day national clean-up exercise.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, July 11, Dr Ohemeng-Ntiamoah said while communal labour promotes community ownership and civic responsibility, it does little to tackle the root causes of flooding and poor sanitation.
“We all agree that this clean-up is not a solution at all. Communal work is good for community building and ownership, but when it comes to waste management and improving sanitation in the city, this does not solve it. When it comes to flooding, this does not solve it,” she said.
She cautioned against elevating indiscriminate waste disposal as the principal cause of flooding, arguing that doing so diverts attention from more significant problems.
According to her, the major drivers of flooding include inadequate and outdated drainage infrastructure, increasing volumes of stormwater runoff caused by extensive concrete development, weak enforcement of wetland protection laws, the absence of sufficient stormwater retention ponds, and choked drains.
Dr Ohemeng-Ntiamoah said many of Accra’s primary drainage systems were designed to handle rainfall associated with a 25-year flood event, which she believes is no longer adequate given the increasing intensity of rainfall.
She recommended that future drainage infrastructure be designed to withstand 100-year flood events, an engineering standard increasingly being adopted by cities facing more extreme weather.