THE EDITOR, Sir:
I AM concerned that ever since the Yallahs bridge washed away, and with all the problems in Bull Bay, all the official talk is about armouring the bridges and training the rivers to withstand the torrents.
No one has been asking the questions as to why the Yallahs River should be behaving like the Sandy Gully. The gully rises fast because all the paved areas, roofs and roads shed the water quickly. That is why it has to be so big and is so dangerous.
Unfortunately, the Yallahs River is becoming a gully too, and you can see why, if you drive into the Blue Mountains. Bare, often burnt, hillsides are everywhere. Not surprisingly, the run-off from the Yallahs River is fast and furious just like a gully, drying up in a day or two. If there were more trees in the watershed, the water flow would be spread over weeks rather than days.
I had hoped that the damage would spur our leaders and organisations to look at the long-term solutions, as well as short-term ones. If the peak flows in the Yallahs River continue to increase due to the continued deterioration of the watershed, no amount of engineering will keep a bridge in place.
Please, protecting a watershed is cheap compared with dealing with the consequences of neglect. We cannot afford only the short-term fixes.
I am, etc.,
STEPHEN HODGES
carphen@jol.com.jm
P.O. Box 597
Kingston 10
