As the 2014 hurricane season approaches, and with it the chance that public and private organisations could lose money through flooding and water damage, an investor is on the verge of introducing a new product to help keep such losses in check.
Brokerage & Investment Group, which has operations in Spain, the United State and Barbados, will soon launch WaterGelSacks, an initiative the company said would negate the need for traditionally favoured sand bags.
In a statement submitted to BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY, the company said it was the “official” Caribbean distributor of the product which inflates on contact with water and that they “will be in Barbados before this coming raining season”. The bags are produced in China.
“WaterGelSacks is a patented system of self-inflating bags. They have three components: an outside bag which is 100 per cent jute [coarse fibre used to make burlap], an inner liner made from 100 per cent cotton and a granulate polymer inside,” the company explained.
“Once you have inflated the sack you just give it the use you need to. The most common use is to minimise flooding risks but it is also used in constructions sites, or to redirect water floods, leaks, etcetera.”
It added that the product had advantages over sandbags, including that it was easier to transport, store, use, and dispose.
Company officials said that the initial response to the product in Barbados was positive.
“We introduced the product in Barbados last summer, doing a live demonstration with several businesses, insurance companies and attendants from the Government of Barbados,” they statement noted.
“Due to the acceptance of the product in all the countries and markets as well as the conclusions of that meeting in Barbados and the orders we are already taken, I am sure the product is going to do great in Barbados too.”
