Pay attention to ground water

Barbadians are in danger of sucking salt – literally – if the country fails to adapt to prolonged drought brought on climate change, a former senior foreign policy official has warned.

Sea water could end up seeping into groundwater, Dr Peter Laurie, who retired as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a Rotary luncheon at Hilton Barbados Thursday afternoon.

Already, coastal groundwater aquifers have reported the phenomenon known as saline intrusion, caused when seawater filters through the island’s coral cap to fill a vacuum caused by empty wells.

Probably the worse implications for Barbados is not just more hurricanes or rising sea levels, but the progressive exhaustion of our underground water supply caused by extensive periods of drought and sea waves,” he said.

He said that at the current rate of consumption, by 2050, the sea water would start flowing into the aquifers. “We will then literally be all sucking salt,” he declared.

Dr Laurie referred to experts who warn that if global warming is not reversed by the end of this century parts of the world could become uninhabitable.

A former ambassador to Washington, he cautioned that nothing less than a decarbonization of the world economies would stave off a catastrophe.

But he expressed optimism that Barbados can survive and thrive economically.

He explained that this country has an advantage being a small state, pointing to data that half of the states in the top index of development are small.

“Most analysts agree that apart from visionary leadership, they are strong intangible infrastructure, the practice of good governance, stable institutions, the rule of law, gender equity, education, health care and business services,” Dr Laurie told the Rotarians.

He said that small states which have visionary leadership can be turned around easily like a catamaran over an oil tanker.

Pointing specifically to Barbados, Dr Laurie said this country has stability: “Barbados has a strong entrenched two-party system that is not torn apart by any ideological differences.

“So when one party succeeds in office there is not any major disruption in the economy.”

He also identified a long-standing trade union movement and a social partnership, which he described as the envy of the world.

The retired diplomat said, too, that Barbados has a highly qualified diaspora from which to draw expertise