And what's the alternative?
Well, it may sound like Science fiction but in a world where water resources the world over have become contaminated potable water could become the most valuable of resources.
We asked Nichols about Belize's place in such a future, here's what he had to say about that far-flung contemplation could mean for a country like Belize:
Cherisse Halsall
"Investors the world over have said that water is basically the next oil, do you foresee a time when the Belizean government might be selling off our water resources to more developed nations?"
Keith Nichols - Programme Development Caribbean Climate Change Center
"Interesting thought, I don't know if we will have enough water to sell, in the first instance, sometimes we have to shut down some of the rivers activities because of heavy metals, mercury etc. If you have your resources originating from outside the country, we don't know what's in the water. So, from that perspective we can't assume that we have enough. I remember once there was a drought in 2009 when most of the eastern Caribbean suffered really serious droughts it's probably one of the worst we've had in recent times and countries like Dominica had a lot of water, Dominica has 365 rivers, one for everyday of the year and they were sort of exporting water from Dominica to neighboring countries that were suffering more. Dominica itself had a problem because of the absence of storage, so it's not just having water in rivers that we can export, we need to be able to store water for portable use, we need to have the storage capacity and to capture for future expansion. We're growing economies, tourism demands a tremendous amount of water. If anyone of us here end up in a hotel, we tend to follow the same trend that tourist take, we waste water, except we don't do the same things in our homes. So, tourism is the major consumer of water and we need to ensure that we bring on board all our stakeholders to get them to understand that how we manage our resources is key to the country's survival overall and because everything is connected and interconnected I don't think Belize will have the luxury of enough water to sell but that's a long term decision and it's going to be dependent on the evaluation of the resources, both ground water and surface water under this particular project but it's something I don't think that can it be thought of at this point in time."
And turning back to the present today's discussion covered everything from the salinization of wells to the rising floodwaters that will no doubt accompany oncoming climate change.
But Nichols says that ongoing water protection efforts require, quote: " Every single player to be engaged and the program to be designed in such a way that it's not only a singular government responsibility. It has to be a collective responsibility that involves private sector, industry manufacturing households and even people in the rural communities."
