Capture it for a dry day

Rain, rain, go away and come again another day!

 

Most persons know this rhyme joyfully sang during school days, particularly during a rainy lunch hour when one wanted to escape the confines of the classroom. However, with the hardening ground and the brittle brown grass that is now the scene around the island and of course, the dry taps of many living in the northern districts, Barbadians are pleading with the rain to come back.

 

The unusually dry rainy seasons in 2014 and 2015 have meant that water levels in wells around the island have significantly declined as use has continued, but there has been little to no replenishment.

 

While long advised that it is a water-scarce country, as more and more persons are waking to empty taps, Barbadians now begin to understand that this precious commodity is a finite resource and there is a need to ensure that what we have is not wasted.

 

There may be some good news on the horizon however, as scientists are already predicting the presence of ‘La Niña’ later this year, forecasting that it will bring large amounts of much-needed water to the lands.

 

At this time therefore, it may be necessary to look at putting mechanisms in place to take full advantage of this phenomenon.

 

The information is already out there as to how more than half of this country’s rainwater becomes runoff. It should be common sense to recognise that this significant loss cannot continue in an island where water is scarce.

 

It would be interesting to note how many businesses in the private sector, especially farmers, have implemented rainwater harvesting systems so that they do not have to draw this from the underground source.

 

Public sector offices and schools too should be outfitted with these, whether they be rooftop systems or those designed to capture runoff.

 

We already know the impact that climate change is having on various countries. It is not even summer months yet, and already just last week India recorded high temperature rates of 50 degrees, and that’s Celsius not Fahrenheit!

 

From the United Nations to the community conferences, persons know that the world is getting hotter and the fact that rainfall is becoming sporadic at best during what was traditionally known as the wet season, exemplifies more than anything else the need to not only conserve water, but also to capture as much rainwater as we can.

 

Weather patterns are changing and with it so too must the response of human beings.