WITH THE CONCERNS about the increasing demand for limited water supply and the continuing effects of climate change that we will see in Barbados, I wonder what was the result of the experimental barging of water from South America that involved Barbados as a port of call.
Bulk water transfer is not as impossible an idea as some people think.
Since 1995 the firm SpraggBag has been marketing flexible polyurethane bulk water bags, each with a capacity of 700 000 gallons, which are floated across the ocean from one part of the world where water is abundant to other parts where it is scarce.
Since freshwater is lighter than seawater, the bags float and can be hauled along linked to each other in a “train”. Bulk water transportation of freshwater is cheaper than desalination, rigid ship tanker, conventional barges or pipeline.
Apart from meeting our demand for agriculture and construction, an interesting business opportunity for Barbados might therefore seem to lie in the provisioning of ships. Even at the price of eight cents per litre there will be a sizeable margin after transporting relatively inexpensive river water from the Guianas.
– LEE FARNUM-BADLEY
