The Managing Director, Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, OCHA Brigade, Comrade Celestine Anere has warned residents to desist from the culture of channeling untreated wastewater through the public drains due to obvious health risks to the environment and on humans.
Angel Network News (ANN) reports that
Anere gave the warning while speaking to journalists on the increasing rate of waste water being channelled onto the streets and major roads in the state .
The OCHA Brigade boss urged residents to desist from such ugly attitudes in their own interest and in the interest of the environment, while educating residents on the danger of mismanagement of wastewater and sustainable environment.
Comrade Anere stated that public drains are meant for stormwater as against the unhealthy practice of channeling untreated wastewater which will have adverse impact on the environment and humans.
He explained that Anambra residents have continued to lament over the channelling of human wastes on streets and roads in the state, as the agency will commence penalizing defaulters.
Some of the residents who spoke to newsmen in Awka, Mrs Jane Obi a petty trader, decried the amount of sewage directly channelled into the streets indiscriminately. Also speaking, Mr. Peter Ike expressed worry over the way residents release their wastewater to the streets. He said that the situation is often unbearable with the entire atmosphere filled with smell, coupled with leakages from waste carts that pollute the air and that whenever the smell oozing became harsh, people in the vicinity stuff their noses with cloth, hoping that the smell would only last a few minutes.