Where are the reservoirs?

Apr 08, 2010 Editorial

Prolonged dry spells are nothing new to Guyana but each time one comes around the authorities seem to be caught like rats in a trap. Farmers are made to suffer and as happened this time around, if they should try to divert diminishing water supplies to their cultivation then the authorities would prosecute them. At least four farmers from West Demerara ended up before a magistrate.
It is not surprising that farmers on the Essequibo Coast were among the least affected during this El Nino. The architects had designed an elaborate system of drainage to use water from the five great lakes in the area. These lakes are natural reservoirs during the periods of heavy rainfall.
During the recent dry spell, water from these lakes helped irrigate the farms. The rice farmers boasted that they lost nothing although some farms were better placed than others. Those in the south were better served but all were served never the less.
However, Essequibo is not Guyana. Yet, surely the rest of the country could have taken a leaf from the book of the people who designed the Essequibo waterways. The harsh truth is that there are the conservancies which during periods of heavy rainfall threaten to burst their banks and create havoc among the coastal population.
There is no reason why the authorities could not have created additional reservoirs which would have been more than useful at this time. These reservoirs would have eased the pressure on the conservancy at the worst of times and at the same time, provide irrigation water when the need arises. There is now talk about creating a waterway to relieve the pressure on the East Demerara Water Conservancy when the rains come. One would suppose that when the next dry spell comes around, this waterway would be used to irrigate some of the lands that may be affected. However, given the length of the coastal plain this solitary waterway would be most ineffective.
It is no saving grace that the Minister of Agriculture could boast that the loss of the rice crop was not as significant as expected.
There should have been no loss given the size of the plots in a country where farms are relatively small when one takes a look at farms on the global scale. There are many rivers but it would seem that not too many waterways are linked to them. The result is that drought-like conditions always create problems.
It has not escaped notice that more focus is placed on ridding the land of water than on conserving water for times like the current dry period. The Agriculture Minister spoke of spending millions of dollars on drainage in preparation for the rainy season. The interesting part was that the dry weather came so all the work that went into digging the drains to rid the land of water was a no-go; there was just no water to drain. Instead there was need for water. And in any case these works are about to be tested.
One wonders whether there is going to be a review of the current situation with a view to making the necessary corrections. In the first instance there should be irrigation canals leading to the various farm sites and not the narrow drains that seem to suffice and which become useless at the first sign of a dry spell.
It will be a few years before the nation experiences another prolonged dry spell. The next problems would be excessive water caused by La Nina rains. As fate would have it, the human mind is such that the dry spell would be consigned to the nether regions of the mind—becoming a distant memory.
All attention would be paid to getting rid of the water and nothing would be done about trying to save water for the next dry spell.

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