Rubbish chokes capital and spreads disease

Rubbish, dumped in gutters, is choking up the crumbling sanitation works that poorly service the capital Lome, worsening flooding in the rainy season and encouraging the spread of disease complain residents and health workers. “I have to act like a policeman in front of my house,” complained Theo, a 60 year old retired surveyor who lives in the popular Be quarter. “As soon as I turn my back people come to throw rubbish in the gutters!” “When I am in the house, the smell is horrid!” he complained to IRIN. Earlier this month, several ministers, among them those of Hydraulic Resources, Health, Environment and Security, visited sanitary installations in affected areas in Lome to observe what the inhabitants like Theo have repeatedly been complaining about. Ever since the state funded rubbish collection service closed down ten years ago - which used to collect people’s rubbish from their homes - unauthorised rubbish dumps have mushroomed across the city. In some areas, residents have come together to manage their waste disposal problems organising action groups to clear out blocked gutters. Others, where they can afford it, have come together to pay 1,000 to 5,000 CFA ($2 to $10) a month to youth groups who load rubbish onto wheelbarrows often jettisoning it on unofficial dump-sites. Otherwise, residents dump their rubbish wherever they can. “Rainwater does not flow anymore, because the public works are not maintained on one hand, while on the other, populations are irresponsible, throwing rubbish into gutters so that they fill in and get blocked,” explained Assiongbon Keussan, the government’s Director of Water Works. “Additionally, the natural cavities where excess water was supposed to gather have been invaded by constructions and dumped rubbish,” he continued. Illegal dumping is also jeopardising people’s health, warn health workers. Between December and February, 25 people out of 586 cases of cholera registered in Lome, died. Cholera is a water borne disease spread when human waste contaminates the drinking water supply. “Waste management should not be neglected as the sanitary situation of thousands of people depend upon it,” said Daniel Koudamah, a medical assistant in a clinic in Tresor, an area in the centre of Lome. During the recent cholera outbreaks, the Ministry of Health announced that most of the cases were concentrated on the area around the lagoon, which runs east to north through the city and is used by residents to take away their sewage and household waste. The first rains began falling in May this year and residents are worried about further cholera outbreaks. “We have been forgotten in this country!” complained one angry resident. “Every year our houses are flooded and we suffer seriously from this!” Flooding has been so bad since May that residents of Gbagdago, a low-lying quarter of the city, have abandoned their homes and moved in with friends or relatives on higher ground. However, things could be about to improve. Earlier this week, the government secured a US$ 12 million loan from the West African Development Bank (WADB) to clean up the city and pave many of the city’s dirt roads. “In the first phase of the works, we will pave the 3,820 km of mostly dirt roads in the north of Lome,” said Anani Victor Djogbessi. The technical director of AGETUR, the urban works department that will carry out the work, said that gutters would be built to collect the surface water on the road and prevent future flooding. The second phase of the project will be to drain Tokoin, a large low lying area in the west of the city and build a reservoir for excess rainwater to drain into. “We will additionally clean the existing canals up to the lagoon”, Djogbessi added. However, with no plans from the government to reinstate the free rubbish collection service, Theo may have to continue his watch of the gutters outside his house even after the work is done.