I remember one time I noticed some 14 foot by 14 foot rectangular pipes assembled along a soccer field behind a high school where I played soccer. The area was flood prone. Upon inquiry I found out that those pipes were going under the soccer field. Soon the field was closed and dug up. Before long, the pipes were gone, and the soccer field was restored. You couldn't even tell that the field was ever disturbed. Better yet, the floods were gone.

While I am not saying that we should do something like this, (God only knows we can hardly afford it) we have alternatives. When was the last time anyone heard of a flood in Cape Coast?

I grew up in Cape Coast. I went to secondary school in Cape Coast. When I was in school, my school mates teased a time or two about London Bridge. London Bridge is the name of a bridge and area surrounding the bridge in Cape Coast. My school mates from Accra and other places teased me that the name London Bridge gives the impression that it was something spectacular until you see it. I agree the name is bigger than the bridge is spectacular. What is spectacular about it to me is the gutter that the structure bridges over.

On one of my visits home, I was caught in a heavy rain in Cape Coast. I took shelter under a nearby balcony. The gutters were full of "red" water racing away with speed. The red in the water was soil eroding. I knew exactly where it was coming from. Right behind the building were some big hills that always had big holes in them. It brought to mind a story I heard that Mr. Rawlings came to Cape Coast one time to dig sand out of the gutters. I thought his time would have been better spent thinking of how to stop the erosion or organizing people to plant grass on the hills.

The remarkable thing is that the waters went away as soon as the rain stopped. I was amazed how quickly the gutters emptied. These gutters from colonial days, probably two feet wide and maybe 30 inches deep, empty into the big gutters that London Bridge bridges over. The gutters under the bridge are about 14 foot wide and anywhere from 4 to 6 feet deep.

Accra's storm drainage problem is vast and I will not pretend the solution will be quick and easy. After all we spent year after year building impervious surface after impervious surface without giving thought to drainage of storm water. However as I reflect, the gutters along the side of Ring Road in Accra draining into the Korle Lagoon is no match compared to the London Bridge gutters. If these gutters would be made bigger, if not deeper, we can probably relieve some flooding upstream in that area. Similar solution will probably apply to other locations in Accra and elsewhere.

The Accra Mayor, rather than spending time taking people's livelihood from them, could visit Cape Coast and other places and look at what is working in our own country and find some cheaper, maybe temporary solutions for the floods in Accra.

Tony Pobee-Mensah