We take it for granted but what really is the value of water? True, in Belize we've been spoilt by an abundance of water, form the sea that spans our coast, to the rivers that cut though Belize. But today, water policy planners took time to remind us that water is not an inexhaustible resource, in fact we could run out of it. That's the message that went out at the water fair, held at the Constitution Park in Belize city. We spoke to, Carlos Fuller the chairman of the National Pro tem Water Commission:
Alfonso Noble Reporting
The various organizations that have anything to do with water, from the Chalillo Dam project to the hydrology department to the potable water provider BWS, decked out their wares at the constitution park on the occasion of Inter American Water Day. Carlos fuller- chairman of the national water commission says that the day is held in observance of that most necessary of natural resources.
Carlos Fuller - Chairman NWC
"What we are trying to emphasize today is the integrated use of water resources. That it is there for everyone so we have to use it respectfully."
"Water has many users. When you think only of the Belize River; Becol uses it to generate electricity, San Ignacio uses it to take out water for drinking, Belmopan needs it for water, the people in agriculture use it to irrigate their crops, the fish farmers use it for Tilapia and shrimp and so on. We use it for tourism, for transportation. Everybody uses water yet we sometimes forget that even though we use it somebody else also needs to use it."
And with so much uses, Fuller says that there must be an emphasis on protecting water because, though we may think the contrary, it is a finite resource.
Carlos Fuller
"Belize is very blessed, we have more water per capita that any other country in the Americas. We are rich with water. We take it for granted but it is not inexhaustible, it is recyclable. What we discharge as an effluent today will come back tomorrow in a raindrop. So it is only recycled. It is not inexhaustible."
And being exhaustible, protection measures must be put in place to ensure that the water sources are used properly, especially after at least one bad experience which the country has had with the new river in orange walk.
Carlos Fuller
"Once you lose a water resource it is gone forever. Certainly we felt the New River was always going to remain clean. But years of the sugar industry being on the New River has practically killed it. We don't want that to happen to any other river."
"We know that there are certain areas that are at or below sea level as a result of that we have even more concern for them. San Pedro for example: because of the excessive extraction of water we now have to use desalination plants to provide them with water. When we go to Placencia, again too much extraction, we now have to pipe water in from Big Creek underground under the lagoon into Placencia. So yo know it is a scarce resource in some parts. And in fact as we exhaust more and more water and as sea levels continues to rise we now have salt water intrusion. That is salt water intrusion now affecting the potable water. And if it is affecting that water it will soon affect the soil and so soon you won't be able to farm on the traditional farmlands of the Belizean community."
"We always have to be vigilant to ensure that the message continues to go out. It is not going to be a one day message or a one year it is going to be a continuous message. One of the mechanisms that the government has put in place to ensure it happens is the creation of a Pro tem water commission. The idea of the commission is first of all to assess how much water we have, how much users are using it: how much water is being used. And therefore we can come up with a policy: these are the things we are going to do with certain rivers, with certain lakes, with certain waters sources underground. This is going to be the use of it. Once we have the policy in place we will then put in the laws to regulate the use of it. So and So can take out so much. You can only discharge so much into the river. And the finally and most importantly put the mechanisms to then enforce the laws."
And that is a must especially when we are to consider last week's incident on the Sibun river where the cause of the pollution has not yet been ascertained.
This year's observance was held under the theme: "Water and Disasters- Targeting the Services".