Well, it seems that once again, the torential downpours associated with a tropical island situated in the warm Caribbean waters have found us. Since late last week, we've recieved over 6 inches of the wet stuff which has slowed construction projects, caused minor roadside mudslides, forced villagers indoors and luckily...has filled many a water cisterns....
Since almost all our water shed is sub-terrainian, the rainy season is much welcomed and often cursed at the same time. Roatan is a volcanic island with aquafirs (underground lakes or pockets) which fill up with water...pure filtered water from run off. We then drill into these water pockets and pump the pure, clear water into our homes and businesses. Without rain, we'd be dryed up in less than a year, I'm told.
About 3 years ago, I had the opportunity to meet with the PMAIB chief here in my offices in French Harbour. PMAIB is a non-profit organization that is funded through grants from various governments (Italy, France, Germany, Canada) and consults, builds, and analyzes our infrastructure including potable drinking water, waste materials and water, coral reef protection, ecomonic stability, etc.... In that meeting, we were told that based on the current development cycle Roatan is experiencing, that we have enough water "in" the Island for about 20 years. After that, we'll have to install and operate "desalination" plants to remove the salt from sea water and use that for potable drinking water.
Since that meeting, about 20,000 people and 1000 more hotel rooms and condos have come on the drawing board... It would be interesting how these numbers effect the projections of PMAIB now.....and just how much could we end up paying for water in the future...and when?
