Rainfall is a primary component
of the hydrological cycle which makes water available for the earth’s life
supporting systems. Without rainfall and for that matter water, the earth’s
life supporting systems will gradually grind to a halt. Water as a sustainer of
life will continuously diminish until there will be no more of it if there are
no rains.
In view of this, God in His
infinite wisdom incorporated rainfall as part of the climatic variables. Even
though the earth can experience rainfall
at any time, the creator arranged things
in such a way that there is a season
for rainfall and when it does come
it revives many living things especially
vegetation and also nourishes forage
for animal consumption. The onset
of rainfall also marks the beginning of farming activities since moisture
(water) is needed for seed germination and plant growth.
Considering the above submission,
can Rainfall be necessarily evil? Never, but can pose serious threat to life if
not managed well or in other words if man tries to interfere with the natural system
that help make rains useful to man. This potential danger is more eminent in
the tropics where comparatively rainfall is more in terms of quantity and time
period. However, it is also in the tropics where the interference occurs most. Rainfall
being more in the tropics is a blessing than a curse. The tropics boast of the
best forests, rivers and arable lands which are partly attributed to rainfall.
In recent times, climate change as agreed by scientists has succeeded in
distorting the rainfall pattern.
The truth of the matter is that
man has intentionally and carelessly made rainfall become an evil thing. In
Ghana any substantial amount of rains can result in flooding in some parts of
the country which lead to loss of lives and valuable properties. Flooding has
inevitably become seasonal in the country and occurs in every raining season.
In Ghana rainfall is increasingly becoming more harmful than useful due to obvious
reasons. Ghanaians think they can refute the common adage which says “you cannot
cheat nature “. If you live in a country where there are no buffers for rivers
and water bodies, no proper drainage systems especially in the urban areas then
expect nothing but floods whenever it rains irrespective of its intensity or
time period. Water becomes very destructive and deleterious whenever its course
(path) is diverted. A country where wetlands and river buffers are converted in
to estates and buildings are found in water ways without taken any recourse to
the environmental laws and intentional conventions.
One may sometimes ask, do our leaders and the
ordinary citizens in the country know something about wetlands and their
management? Does the country still have Town Planners, and professionals like Land
Economists, Architects, and Environmental Officers etc and if there are, where
do they practice their profession. Ordinary citizens are worst culprits in all
sense and purpose. Almost everybody in the country now prefers concrete tiles
to lawns when developing our compounds. How many homes and offices have lawns
in the urban areas? Have we forgotten that lawns and for that grass help rainwater to sink into the
soil to recharge the ground water which thousands of households rely on for
their livelihood activities. Concrete tiles as used in our compounds have subtle
way of contributing to flooding. Concrete tiles do not allow water to sink into
the soil and also due enable quick formation of run offs which eventually flood
our homes due to unavailability of drainage system.
Finally, gutters and drains are
now refuse site for urban dwellers. Can this be also contributed to poor
governance or leadership failures? Who tells us to dump refuse in gutters? Even
people of the Stone Age would not be involved in this act. This act is illicit
and prepares favorable grounds for diseases outbreak such as cholera. As a
country, will we continue to use fire-fighting approach in solving the seasonal
problems of floods or will we continue to quickly go to bereaved families to
console them and come up with hollow and unfulfilling promises.
Countries in the desert areas invest heavily in
irrigation systems just to make water available for farming. Ghana is blessed
with lot of natural resources which are vital for development. However, our
actions and inactions have robbed the country from taken advantage of these
resources.