Georgetown : There is much more that can be done to improve the environmental state of the city of Georgetown, a state of affairs which must be addressed with urgency in the New Year. This was the summation of Chief Environmental Officer attached to the Georgetown Municipality, Kenneth Stephen during a recent interview. According to him “I have a great concern for the amount of waste that we see on a daily basis on the street corners, in some alleyways and even the drains in the city and I think that some more effort must be made to ensure that drains are properly de-silted and maintained.”
He pointed out that while the municipality is tasked with maintaining the city’s environs the cooperation of members of the public is an imperative if positive results are to be realized. For this reason, he said that another area of focus, which is expected to grab the attention of the municipality, is an intensification of the appeal to citizens to develop a habit of refraining from disposing of waste in an indiscriminate manner. “Some people tend to throw waste through bus and car windows into drains and other parts of the city and we just cannot have this continue,” Stephen noted.
As part of its efforts the Environmental Department of the Municipality has been ensuring that the various facilities in the city, including homes and business places, are outfitted with waste receptacles and other mechanisms required to keep the environment in a manner conducive to human existence. “Our role is to ensure that these areas are free from overgrowths in terms of weeds and long grass and we also have to try to ensure that surface drains are maintained and are in proper order…so as not to encourage the breeding of mosquitoes within those premises.”
Stephen pointed out too that wherever there is a situation that may pose a negative impact on public health “we tend to have one on one discussion with persons and try to encourage them to do whatever they can to help lift the standards.”
Stephen explained that there are existing by-Laws that governs all activities in the city and keeping the environment in an acceptable manner is no exception. As such he noted that the municipality has the authority to take persons before the courts for failing to comply with specific laws.
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