Garbage pile-up delays return to normalcy

By Shaahidah Riza-2016-06-02

It has been two weeks since torrential rains caused several areas in Colombo and suburbs go under flood water. People in Kolonnawa and Wellampitiya, two of the worst hit areas, are now gradually trying to establish normalcy to their lives. Ceylon Today visited these areas in order to ascertain the cleaning activities taking place there. What greeted us was a pungent smell; a stark reminder of the garbage that was washed on to the streets with the deluge.

Kolonnawa always had a garbage problem, as evident in the case of the Meethotamulla garbage dump, which is several feet high and holds about 1,500 tonnes of garbage deposited from all over Colombo. The residents of Kolonnawa pay a dear price for the mismanagement of the government authorities in this regard.

Ekasiyaekewatte is a small by-road that leads to the Meethotamulla garbage dump. Houses of all shapes and sizes line this road; however, one particular characteristic is evident in all of these houses. The boundary wall in each house is slanted.

Vice Chairman of the Kolonnawa Urban Council, Suresh Kodagoda, explained that these slants were due to the garbage being dumped on a marshland, which contains loose soil. When pressure caused by the weight of the garbage is placed on loose soil, it tends to give way elsewhere.

Unstable

"The earth upon which the garbage is dumped is not hard packed earth. When there is a colossal weight pressing down on loose packed land the tendency is for that pressure to push up land elsewhere and this in turn causes damages to the floors and walls of homes nearby. The floods worsened their situation. The torrential rains washed away the Meethotamulla garbage dump.Therefore, the flood water which inundated these houses in close proximity to the garbage dump is laced with an oily substance which has seeped into the walls of the houses. The houses must be purged of this as it carries infections which can prove fatal. It is not healthy for little children to inhale and exhale as this contaminates the air. The cleaning process in these areas will take several months. It will take nearly a year to purge the infections caused by the floods in the houses in Meethotamulla," he said.

Kelum who lives in Ekasisyaekewatte just a few feet away from the garbage dump was engrossed in cleaning his single bedroom house when we approached him. He noted that despite the flood water subsiding last week they had been cleaning the house for the same duration.

"The cleaning service from the Urban Council only cleaned the roads. They didn't clean the houses. At least the roads are passable. I disinfected the house more than thrice. It is very difficult to rid the house of the stench. I used at least 3 bottles of Dettol for this purpose," he said.

Faleela used to live in a one bedroom wooden shack in Nagahamulla, Kolonnawa. What are left of the house are only four pillars and a tin roof. The wooden walls have broken off. She was washing her pots and pans which were inundated by the flood water.

"I lost everything. The only other things I can save are these pots and pans. That would be one item less for me to purchase. I lost all my clothes and jewellery," she said.

She pointed towards the items she had lugged to the front of the house. A gas stove lay overturned, so was a CPU. A broken cot and mattresses were added to the pile. She rummaged through the garbage and pulled out an electric whisk.

"I bought this only a week before the floods to make Watalappan for Ramadan festival. This year Ramadan will be very hard for us," she remarked.

Touring the roads of Kolonnawa, Sedawatte, Kohilawatte, Kotikawatte, Mulleriyawa and Wellampitiya the sights of garbage piled up along with the precious belongings of the residents were very common.
More than usual

A garbage collector who was piling it all on to his truck noted that he does eight shifts in Kolonnawa alone. "On a normal day whenever we notice something remotely expensive kept to be thrown away, we would check whether it could be cleaned for reuse. However, all the stuff that has been thrown has the appearance of being new, yet not useable at all, especially the electronic items.

We don't know how to or where to dispose of these. There were massive mattresses and glassware which were also thrown. This garbage accumulated is due to floods, therefore it is sudden. However, there is no system, which we are aware of, that would accommodate all of these," he observed.

The cleaning activities are principally done by the Civil Defence Force (CDF) under the President's orders. According to CDF spokesperson Vajira Kumarathunga almost all flood affected areas have been cleared to save Kolonnawa and its surrounding areas. He added that measures have been taken to clean up Kolonnawa as well. However, the task proved to be difficult as the garbage accumulated tends to aggregate into a larger pile within hours of removing piles of garbage on the road.

Colonel Nanda Madugalle of the Civil Defence Force is in charge of garbage disposal in Kolonnawa. Based in Mulleriyawa he coordinates the cleaning programme. He noted that garbage disposal is a big problem and added the CDF does not have adequate equipment to expedite this.

"We only have three Bekoloders. We need more. Therefore we requested for more. Despite this we do have a disposal issue. We cannot use the Meethotamulla site. Currently we are using cemetery in Mulleriyawa and a ground as a temporary dumping point.

We have spoken to the relevant authorities to sort this out. We have deployed many CDF personnel to Brandiyawatte, Kuda Buthgamuwa and Ambatale Road where the cleaning is taking place. The monsoon rain is also helpful to some extent although it slows our team.

The rain washes away traces of garbage making matters easier for us. At the same time it makes it muddier too. More equipment will help us speed up the process and establish some degree of normalcy for the people in these areas," he said.

Pix by Ruwan Walpola