Dear Editor,
The authorities need to clean up the environment of Georgetown. This pollution of the capital city is a frustrating problem. Everybody suffers with it, yet everybody contributes to it.
There is a growing concern and much talk of protecting the environment these days. What are the standards when it comes to having clean healthy surroundings that contribute to healthy living and well-being? Are there guidelines in this regard? And shouldn’t we be securing and protecting our immediate environment which impacts directly on our health and well-being? This is a serious public health issue.
When garbage and other household waste are dumped by the roadside until the pile is too large to be removed, and it becomes the feeding and breeding place of flies, rodents, roaches and other carriers of disease, there is an environmental problem and we live in squalor and degradation. Fortunately, most Guyanese shun such conditions and take special care to maintain clean healthy surroundings. The problem arises when the dumping or squalid conditions are in no man’s domain, or are the responsibility of communal management, such as around markets and public places. Of all places the gutter/drain outside the Public Library in Church Street is a sore sight.
Our canals and drains are choked with everything (plastic, umbrellas, cloth, paper, shoes, styrofoam, beer bottles, food boxes, plastic cups, metal cans, wood, cement sacks, compact discs, etc, not to leave out silt and vegetation, and they become stagnant, putrid reservoirs for mosquitoes, flies, and the unseen agents of disease.
Why have so many dwellers of Georgetown abrogated their responsibility to dispose of their litter and garbage in a safe and sensible manner? Is it lack of training and education, or just the absence of sanctions or penalties that cause this type of behaviour almost everywhere?
The stench from Jamoon Drive Canal is a good example of what putrid matter in a stagnant pool can be like.
Many of our eating houses and drinking places too have environments that do not make for a pleasant eat out or drink out. The gutters are unsightly and smelly because they are contaminated with sewage that goes nowhere. What is the Public Health Department doing about these vital issues? I am pissed off when I see people turned away from an office because of an armless dress or a show at the Cultural Centre because of jeans. Aren’t we acting ‘penny wise pound foolish’ in these matters?
Yours faithfully,
Hilmon Henry
