These trenches are drained periodically throughout the day, as I have never seen them overflow-- except when it rains. Then they fill up dramatically and turn into swimming pools for the lizards!
This community need has provoked heated discussions among locals and the media for some time. While there is no doubt that closing the gutters on Ghana's streets could lessen pollution, diseases, and littering, it has yet to be done. The waste and decomposing materials in the gutters attract flies and mosquitos, which transmit a variety of pathogens. There's also an additional problem with the gutters being exposed: they are very easy to fall into! Locals call them foreigner traps since we tend to forget they're around. I've gotten very used to their presence on my everyday walks, but I have yet to tumble into one. One time my friend disappeared into a gutter while we were walking to get food at a local food stop. I was telling her about a strange looking lizard I saw. She wasn't responding to my story, and when I turned my head I was started to realize she wasn't there!
While the gutters are drained often, the end goal is to eliminate them all together. It could benefit the community and evironment in profound ways. People would feel less inclined to throw their plastic and litter out in the open if there was nowhere to throw it. If there weren't gutters; there would be fewer floods in town, because much of the time it is garbage that clogs surface drains and disrupts flow. Some efforts have been made to cover the gutters with cement blocks.
