If a March downpour can cause the level of havoc and even fatalities we witnessed a few days ago, it presupposes that the forthcoming raining season could be flood-prone.
The streets in Accra following the downpour as referred to were littered with pockets of spent water sachets and plastic bottles, as the volumes of water forced its way through the blockade of filth.
For observers of the growing trend of plastic pollution and its attendant effects on our environment and marine life, their call on policymakers to double their efforts in reversing the situation trend is just apt.
Regarding the effect of the trend on marine life, oceanographers have sounded the alarm about how plastics washed into the sea are threatening fish stock.
With most of our protein derived from the sea, it can only be imagined if our herring and other species stock are depleted through reckless human activities.
We are compromising the safety of the environment at a level unsurpassed in human history.
We are quick to express concern about rising cost of food, fish included, but hardly think about how the depleting harvests are impacting upon the supply chain.
Even more worrying is the fact that the subject is restricted to academia and policymakers, those directly linked to the dumping of domestic wastes and plastics in gutters not in the know at all about the effects of their actions.
The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and others must be empowered to consider this important assignment with a view to educating the public about the negative effects of being reckless in our attitude to the environment.
With the raining season approaching, there is no doubt that we have been given sufficient warning about what lies ahead; the downpour of a few days ago has sounded the alarm bell.
The occasional desilting of drainage in the nation’s capital and the Korle lagoon among others does not address the challenge.
Besides the engineering aspect of the challenge, the attitudinal segment is also critical, and that is why we demand other responses besides the annual desilting.
Enforcement of bylaws is still an outstanding issue, which addressing is still a long way from being tackled.
We have heard many suggestions and sometimes seen false starts, but these soon fizzle away into thin air.
The poor attitude in our relationship with the environment has not changed. It appears to have rather aggravated with time, especially as we develop new preferences for polythene carriers and distancing ourselves from biodegradable alternatives.
The result is the choked gutters whose contents do not rot but rather provide adequate blockade for the movement of water, compelling the latter to wreak havoc and even fatalities. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.