Burkina Faso: massive clean up exercise underway as rains set in

In Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, a student group known as ‘’ I care about my planet’‘ movement and the city hall is leading a campaign to rid the capital of filth.

The move is particularly timely as the raining season sets in in this West African nation to prevent perennial floods.

“The Bangr weogo park next to the dam is in danger of being flooded by this waste, which will cause further major damage. Today’s activity is ad hoc, but we are already thinking about a system that would prevent waste from reaching the dams “, said Louis Pascal Dao, founder of ‘ I care about my planet’ movement.

During this sanitation campaign, more than five hundred (500) gutters in the city of Ouagadougou will be cleaned.

“The teams are deployed throughout the municipal territory. The main objective of this campaign to minimize the risk of flooding because soon the rainy season will set in and it was necessary to mobilize the people of Ouagadougou to clean the gutters”, said Mahamoudou Cisse, Director of cleaning at the Ouagadougou city hall.

Students hope residents would be responsible and avoid dumping waste in gutters and dams.

In June 2015, at least 8 people died and 54 were injured by floods alone in Ouagadougou. Local media reported that up to 80 mm of rain fell on June 24.

Severe weather, including heavy rain and strong winds, also affected several provinces during the period.

In August of that year, the government issued a statement warning residents to avoid high risk flood-zones due to the rainy season.