Video: How Sustainable Is Our Water Supply?
The Sustainable Development Roundtable [SDRT], is hosting Community Conversation discussion entitled “Bermuda’s Water Supply: How Sustainable Is It?” this evening [May 10] at the BUEI Auditorium.
The evening will provide a forum for the community to be informed of and understand the factors that influence the production, supply and availability of water, it will also look at Bermuda’s historical water use and highlight vulnerabilities to our water supply that we must begin planning for.
1 hr and 20 min webcast replay below:
Evelyn James-Barnett will be the moderator for the evening, which will begin with welcoming remarks by SD Roundtable Chair Ms. Ianthia Simmons-Wade and brief comments by the Minister of Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy Marc Bean.
Then each panelist will spend about 10 minutes speaking, with the panel members including a hydrogeologist, and representatives from ACE, Bermuda Water Works Limited and the Bermuda Water Truckers Association.
Attendees will be able to leave with an understanding of the complexity of our water story and consider ways that they could implement conservation methods or technologies and move towards being more self-sustaining.
This looks like a positive move. Many Bermudians have forgotten how to conserve water as we used to.
Even though I respect your opinion pastor I must disagree with this one. Water conservation is something that anyone in Bermuda can never forget about especially in these tight times. Everyone here knows the consequences of wasting water because it means 80 now 90 dollars a load taken out of pocket. This is a expensive lesson no one can forget even to a wealthy person this is a good chunk of money.
The difference between now & the years gone by is we have had a decrease in rainfall. This is a direct result of many of our trees being cut down for new building development along with global warming. Trees are known as the speed bumps of rain clouds because the atmosphere that they produce induces rain clouds to burst. As you look outside this morning you will see the rain clouds ready to lash down as it was yesterday also but they wont because without the amount of trees we used to have there are a lot less speed bumps so they will pass us by. This is something we can directly blame our ministers for because they have allowed our island to be overdeveloped & allowed an increase of larger vehicles on the road meaning more heat & carbon monoxide pumped into our atmosphere. One clear example of this is the new hospital & especially its new parking lot. If we all think back where the new parking lot is now used to be a dense amount of trees & there are many other areas that this used to be but now is not. The right solution for hospital parking would have been simple build more levels to the old parking area instead of building a whole new area. Also we don’t need a new hospital we just needed are government to push us along the healthy path by forcing the decrease of importation taxes on fruits vegetables & other healthy foods & using an increase in importation of junk food, tobacco & alcohol to counterbalance this. I guess this is something our government wouldn’t want to do especially since a certain influential doctor would lose out in the future funds from terminally ill patients.
Wrong again…trees do exist on the Island, regardless rain will fall or will not fall regardless of the surface makeup. See “heat-island effect” for more understanding of what you’re trying to say.
The only time I’ve typed trees do not exist on this island is while I’m typing this. Of course trees exist on this island & they exist in dubai also. My point is there are much less here now than there was 15 years ago. I guess you’ve never seen aerial view photos of Bermuda taken throughout the years.
When you mention heat-island effect do you mean urban heat island effect? I know about urban heat island (UHI) already if this is what your on about me being wrong. The reason they use the word urban is because it exist in cities where they don’t have many TREEEES. The word island is not meaning a literal island but an area like New York City that is less rural surrounded by the rest of the New York State that is more rural & how it causes less rainfall in the urban areas & more in the suburban & country areas. Please explain how I’m wrong again?
How Sustainable Is Our Water Supply? Must be very sustainable if our W&E is out in front of City Hall Watering the new patch of grass there every morning with a 1000 gallon water truck. I see kids on the weekend there using the driveway as a makeshift skatepark so why didn’t BDA government build one on that patch with a few ramps instead of putting soil & grass down that precious water is wasted on. These kids are keeping out of trouble & forming a non-racial & non-cast circle. Our island needs these types of bonds throughout the younger generations to keep them off the wrong path but instead our government is only into quick fixes on anything that doesn’t directly benefit them & then wastes or destroys our resources for them.
Tommy please complete the City of Hamilton Plan survey with your suggestions. They are trying to get input from the community and you sound like someone who they need to hear from.
Do I go to the government offices to get this survey? I must admit I’m ignorant of the fact that one existed. I would gladly make this suggestion though my hopes have become jaded from what I know. A few years back government was approached about building a skatepark by a group one of in the group profession was dealing with child health. They were turned down so they did it on their own in Spanish Point but the thugs around there destroyed the ramp one night. Its better to have a concrete ramp but this has to be approved by the planning department so they had to build a wooden movable one hence it was easy for idiots to destroy. There is another different group at present who approached government again about this & was turned down also. This group has taken on the initiative themselves & bought a piece of land in the back of town but this land did not come cheap. Now they must raise enough to build the ramps & other equipment on the land. They sometimes have a makeshift park on front street on sundays which they ask for a small donation to use. I know this has nothing to do with this article but I just wanted to comment on your suggestion to let you know its hard to push anything here that benefits the young. I will look for this survey & put my input in & I’ll even suggest it to the kids who skate parents & maybe hopefully there is enough response that government will feel compelled to do something.
How sustainable? Let’s see, we have 60-65,000 people on a 22 square mile with NO fresh water sources and we love to chop our trees down which help bring the rain which we are not getting. Hmmmmmm This is all sorts of stupid.
Yup! But I see the mother nature has brought some rain to spite our words today. I hope mother nature keeps the spite going all weekend long as I don’t mind it at all. Now I will go out & do a rain dance to keep it coming.
@ Tommy Chong: Not to argue with you, but I have seen some people, usually much younger than I, fill a bath-tub to half-way or more when we were only allowed about an inch; pour the dishwater down the sink and then go out and use fresh water for their plants; run the tap while cleaning their teeth, washing out a dish or two or just trying to adjust the water temperature; and/or run the shower the entire time instead of turning it off while soaping up. The mindset appears to be “if I can afford to buy water, I can do with it as I will.”
I didn’t get to the lecture, but I hope mention was made about the vulnerability of the water lens to salt water seepage if the water level drops below a certain point. Once salt water contaminated the lens, that will render the water forever unusable.
I have noticed how, in every parish, there are water cachments that have been allowed to deteriorate to the point that trees are growing up through them. This should never have been allowed to happen, but I guess in times of plenty, it is easy to forget the importance of maintaining a secondary source of water for times of drought.
One more point. You mention how the loss of trees has impacted the amount of rain we receive. I also understand that the vast numbers of air-conditioners operating in the summer, especially when massed together as they are in the City, have an unexpected impact on our rainfall too. Since they function by transferring heat from inside buildings to the outer atmosphere, all that hot air causes some form of disruption in the patterns of rain. It can be seen on the Doppler if one cares to notice: rain clouds head in our direction, hit the hot air and disperse around that concentrated heat only to rejoin on the other side of the island. This is why we sometimes find it has rained in Somerset and St. George but Hamilton has remained dry as a bone. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.
I guess it is a surmise for me to state that I know how everyone on island water usage goes. There is some I know with wells that will overuse this source of water but conserve on the tank source. This is not good because wells also can run dry. I haven’t come across anyone who feels that they can afford to waste their tank water but you’re right that I can’t assume that all are this way. There are some who would think the length you mentioned of conserving water is a bit extreme but I agree & in my household we water most plants with soapy dish water. There are only a few we don’t that we want to promote butterfly populations on & the soaps seems to deter them. This deterrent works well for the ones we want to be pest free & it doesn’t hurt the plants at all. We even catch our water we wash our hands with in the bathroom to flush the toilet with a plastic basin. I see your point that if you know people who don’t even close the shower in between soaping up then education needs to be done.
Yes I’m aware of the doppler effect & I’m hoping if we ever have a tsunami it will work to our benefit. As for it effecting rainfall I’ve learnt the same thing & this is definitely not a benefit of it. You’re right air conditions do cause this as does anything else that heats up the area even body heat can contribute to this. The only thing that balances out the heat is trees & plants as they cool the atmosphere. I’m am one of those guilty of using an air condition but I try to limit the use to nights in late july till end of september as I find it hard to sleep when it gets that hot. We have window fans that I put in around june so we don’t overuse the ac. The only problem with window fans is that it makes it easier for thieves to break in but I’m hoping the steel bars I’ve made to block the windows from sliding up stops this. We try our best to conserve our environment because we realize that our children will have to pay for any human intemperance & we would like them to see that we care & teach them to do the same even if there are others that don’t.