Editorial
Stabroek News
June 17, 2001

With all the depressing news doing the rounds, it is nice to hear something upbeat for a change. And that upbeat tempo is coming from none other than Region Ten. In our edition last week we reported on the pollution of the Demerara River at Linden as a consequence of the indiscriminate dumping of garbage by residents in general, and stallholders of the McKenzie and Wismar markets in particular. Unfortunately there is nothing too unusual about environmental pollution in this country, but this story had an unexpected twist. The level of the contamination had so concerned the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Ten that it had made a television documentary in order to sensitize the public to the problem.

According to residents who spoke to this newspaper, the footage shown on the local TV station was so graphic that they became quite alarmed. The Demerara River is the source of the town's domestic water supply, so it was hardly surprising that the viewers were acutely disturbed when they saw shots of persons washing in the river with garbage floating around them, children bathing amid the pollution, toilets and urinals sited over the water, and one of Linden's treatment plants surrounded by refuse pumping murky H2O merrily into the system. In addition, the list of items regularly disposed of in the Demerara was enough to make even the most phlegmatic of citizens blanch.

The documentary appeared to have had its effect, and according to Regional Executive Officer Basil Benn, the stallholders had been among the first to form a committee indicating their willingness to work with the RDC and the Linden Town Council to clean up the river.

Last week, it was the Linden Town Council's (LTC) turn to swing into action. Deputy Town Clerk Floyd Patterson told this newspaper that the council had had plans to clean up the river even before the RDC had produced its documentary. While this is no doubt the case, the video almost certainly stimulated a far more vibrant public response than otherwise could have been expected. As it is the LTC met with market vendors last Monday and issued a warning that those caught littering and dumping garbage in prohibited areas would be prosecuted.

In the meantime, the LTC in conjunction with the McKenzie Market Association has begun cleaning the river bank, and residents have been issued with garbage bags which when filled are to be placed in a convenient spot to be collected by the town's garbage trucks. They have also been advised that discarded rice and flour bags could be used for rubbish disposal as well.

In addition to the efforts of the RDC, LTC and market association, there is a voluntary group boasting the slightly cumbersome name of Friends Restoring Education and Economic Development in Linden. There is nothing cumbersome about the group's activities, however, which include a campaign of environmental awareness. Last Saturday, together with the Environmental Protection Agency and the RDA, it organized a Green Walk through the town and past mined-out pits, whose entrances were discovered blocked with rubbish.

It is an example of what authorities, citizens and organizations can do for their surroundings, even with the limited resources available. Most of all, in the case of the RDC, it is an example of how a little imagination can inspire a town. What they now have to ensure is that there are systems in place to maintain Linden in a sanitary state, so that this is not a one-off success story, and they can show the rest of the nation how things should be done.