By Fatou Bojang
Local authorities say decades of unmanasged settlements, illegal dumping, and wastewater pollution have turned the once-vital waterway into a persistent environmental threat.
For more than 25 years, shopkeeper Sainey Sajor watched the stream next to his shop deteriorate despite repeated cleanups.
He sells furniture along the unmanaged dumping side, where he generates daily incomes to feed his family.
He said the pattern has not changed.
“When the stream is cleaned, people throw more waste there again. Last year, one organisation cleaned it, but the moment they finish people started dumping waste there again,”he said.
Sainey emphasised that he regularly confronts illegal dumpers but they dismiss him for lacking the authority to stop them.
He said he reported incidents to the police, yet offenders often return at night.
Sainey alleged that some households have even connected their soakaway systems directly into the stream, polluting the water and exposing children who play along its edge to serious health risks.
He urged WACA to dig the stream deeper, concrete it in a slanted way, add steel reinforcements, and fence the area.
“If that is done and cleaning continues, water will flow well like before.”
These issues have resulted in severe seasonal flooding, damage to homes and livelihoods, increased public-health risks, and the deterioration of natural ecosystems such as wetlands and mangroves.
According to environmentalists, addressing this area became essential not only to protect lives and property, but also to promote environmental sustainability and improve the urban landscape.
Proper waste management remains the main challenge of the council, with rapid population growth in the metropolitan areas.
Lamin K Jammeh, Councillor of Bakoteh Ward told The Standard thatthe dangerous state of the stream stems from years of unregulated settlements and environmental mismanagement.
“When we came to council in 2018, we found the stream already a threat to people’s lives especially during the rainy season,” he said.
Each year, Jammeh added, the council hires an excavator to dredge the waterway ahead of the rains, but “these short-term interventions cannot address the underlying structural problems”.
Proper drainage systems often confront councils with numerous challenges during the rainy season.
However, Jammeh said, a turning point came between 2019 and 2020, when the Tony Blair Institute helped draft a long-term rehabilitation concept.
“That proposal later secured World Bank funding through the Ministry of Environment, paving the way for a comprehensive redesign of the stream.”
As a major intervention zone due to its high vulnerability to recurrent flooding, pollution, and environmental degradation, the Kotu Stream stretches approximately 11km across 11 densely populated settlements, with an estimated 200,000 residents exposed to environmental hazards and poor drainage conditions.
Jammeh said a full reconstruction will require relocating residents who currently live within the buffer zone, an area where construction is prohibited under Gambian law.
While WACA via NEA is doing enforcement (inspections, fines, notices, prosecutions), land-use mismanagement remains a problem: illegal land allocations, uncontrolled encroachment onto waterways, insufficient urban planning.
“Those houses will be demolishedbecause the law establishes a buffer of 70 to 75 meters from the stream. When this is done, the place will change completely. It will be lively and natural and people will stop dumping there,” Jammeh said.
In response to this, Abdoulie Sey, Communications Officer WACA said WACA is combining grey solutions, such as concrete structures, with green and nature-based solutions to restore the Kotu Stream.
“This integrated approach strengthens flood defenses, improves drainage, and ensures environmentally friendly, long-term resilience,” he added.
To tackle waste management, Seysaid WACA is working with local councils and the National Environmental Agency to improve waste collection and disposal.
“The project is providing equipment, sensitisation programs, and preparing a youth-focused recycling initiative that turns waste into jobs,” he noted.
Sey emphasised that WACA’s goal goes beyond fixing current problems; it aims to build sustainable infrastructure for future generations.
Sey added that the team engages communities, Ward Councillors, Alkalos, and government technical agencies to ensure strong participation and enhance institutional capacity.
Meanwhile, he highlighted that the five-year project (2023–2027) has already supported major national policies and regulations, with feasibility studies and engineering designs expected in early 2026.
He said WACA also plans to launch social investments this year to support livelihoods and strengthen community resilience.
WACA has taken important initial steps since 2023, including providing 34 flood-water pumps, clearing the stream corridor, and launching community awareness and capacity-building activities.
Despite these efforts, major obstacles persist especially ongoing waste dumping, weak enforcement of land-use regulations, and limited community cooperation.
Lasting progress will require stronger coordination among institutions, successful implementation of the upcoming engineering designs, and active community participation.
Overall, the WACA intervention seeks to deliver long-term flood protection, rehabilitate the environment, and improve living conditions for the many residents who rely on the Kotu Stream.
