Dear Editor,
The question of flooding in Georgetown and else where is again making the rounds in the media, the big question is the lack, for whatever reason, of meaningful cooperation between the central and local government authorities. It is unnecessary for me to go through the tedium of details, which I have on several occasions written and talked about.
The problem began years ago when we unwittingly filled up waterways such as the Punt Trench Canal which was dug forty feet to provide drainage from the East Coast to the Demerara River and a holding facility for excess rainfall, similar you have the Church Street canal, now known as Merriman’s Mall. This applies to other canals and waterways which the respective governments and councils made decisions, in some cases, to satisfy the needs of the pre-independence plantocracy.
The other drawback is the evidence of a culture of lawlessness, indiscipline and a disregard. I recall as a youngster, in my early Primary School days, that when word got out that the sanitary inspector was in the area, every household, large and small, ensured that there weas no lodged water in the yard or in containers which could act as breeding places for mosquitoes, nor circumstances in violation of health regulations.
Speaking to some engineering graduates from our university, not many of them understand the layout of the city and the coastal belt, and this of course is another problem. The question of how much the owners of large compounds, in the city and the coast, should be allowed to concrete or asphalt, was a matter discussed but ignored in the name of development.
But perhaps the highest hurdle is the question of indiscipline in every stratum of society. If we can overcome the above, the heaviest downpour will cause no or little flooding.
Yours truly,
Elder Hamilton Green
