… Warns Against Clogging of Tertiary Drains
Lagos State Government, on Friday, charged residents to complement its year-round cleaning of all primary and secondary channels by regularly cleaning tertiary drains that run across residences.
A statement signed by the State Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello, maintained that the State Government is committed to the cleaning, clearing and dredging of all major collectors to ensure that they all discharge wastewater properly.
Speaking against the backdrop of the heavy rainfall experienced in Lagos on Friday, he said a change of attitude is desired from the residents to prevent flash flooding, stressing that the nonchalant attitude of some residents is causing some drawbacks for the successes recorded by the State Government in flood control.
Bello said it is regrettable that even commercial organisations and companies are also guilty of not cleaning their drains but would rather leave them for the government to undertake the task.
The Commissioner said that investigations conducted by officials of the Ministry after Friday’s rainfall revealed that the flashfloods occurred because most tertiary drains were blocked with refuse, thus spewing water onto the roads.
His words: “The people should realise that it portends great danger when tertiary drains are littered with refuse, as this could bring about unexpected destruction and fatalities. Local Councils Areas also need to step up enforcement of infractions as it concerns tertiary drains that are not cleaned and cleared regularly”.
While advising Local Council Authorities to increase the number of environmental health officers monitoring the drains on a regular basis, he pointed out that hours after each torrential rainfall, flood water usually disappears because of the improved state of the drains around Lagos.
