Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited
Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Page: 23A
Paper Date: Wed, Oct 4, 2000
Byline: Compiled by Terry Ally
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Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited |
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This island's gullies are some of the
most beautiful places one can visit.
With their own mini-climates, of sorts, they support unique and rare plant
life unseen elsewhere on the island. In this article, Rickardo Ward of the
Ministry of the Environment explains more about the importance of these
natural wonders.
by Rickardo Ward
Gullies form a significant component of the natural landscape features of Barbados. For this reason, there is the need for every citizen to develop at least a basic understanding and appreciation of their origins and general characteristics. Perhaps of greater importance is the recognition of the relationship between gullies, groundwater quantity and quality, and the provision of drinking water, as we are classified as a water scarce nation which is particularly vulnerable to episodes of drought.
The Barbados gully systems are typically deep limestone fissures which radiate westerly from the highland ridge of the Scotland District. It has been suggested that they were formed from cracks in the coral reef structure when Barbados was pushed upwards from the sea. Limestone gullies are primarily concentrated in the parishes of St. Peter, St. James and St. Thomas where rapid changes in landscape elevation occur over relatively short distances from the coastline inland. The few that are noticed in the Scotland District are also associated with rapid landscape changes. However, the non-coraline nature of the District suggests that their origins are primarily linked to land slippage and other erosion events that have occurred over time.
Among the distinctive features and functions of gullies, they act as channels for storm water flows which, in some cases, can be drawn from relatively large catchment areas. They also represent, apart from Turners Hall Woods and Joe's River Forest, the last areas of mature forest vegetation and refuge for wildlife, and therefore contribute to the quality of our environment and our lives. And, historically, they have been used for numerous purposes, such as small-scale farming, sources of fuel wood, and as charted pedestrian links between villages and plantations.
Gullies also play an integral role as watercourses for storm water. Groundwater which collects in the sub-surface limestone is the principal source of our drinking water supply. To protect the quality of the source for processing and distribution, a zoning model was formulated to minimise the risk of pollution. The model divides Barbados' land area into five groundwater zones and offers guidance on the type of development which might occur in each. Development is strictly prohibited in Zone 1 which generally includes the drinking water abstraction wells. Varying degrees of development are allowed across the other four zones in order to reduce or eliminate pollution risks. Zone 5 is the least restrictive and has largely shaped the residential and industrial distribution we now notice. Gullies are not restricted to any one groundwater zone and therefore the management, or lack of management, may have a profound effect on the quality of that vital resource. Issues such as illegal dumping of solid and liquid waste, the indiscriminate removal of vegetation, and the excessive use of pesticides and fertilisers on adjacent agricultural plots are matters of grave concern. These are of greater significance when one considers that pollutants are likely to be delivered more rapidly to the drinking water source through the gully floor mainly because the gully floor is closer to the water table.
In conclusion, activities which serve to undermine the quality of gully ecosystems represent direct threats to our sole water resource, our health and, by extension, to our very existence.
EPA blamed
UNITED STATES energy executives and some Republican lawmakers have
partially
blamed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the energy crunch.
They
say the EPAšs regulations made it too difficult to build new refineries,
electricity plants or fuel storage tanks at a time when the nation needed
more energy.
Floating lab
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, which has paid millions of dollars in fines
for marine pollution, has teamed up with the University of Miami to create
state-of-the-art pollution research labs onboard their vessel to collect
data from the air and ocean as the Explorer Of The Seas plies its northern
Caribbean route.
La Niņa over
The weather phenomenon La Niņa, which brought increased hurricane
activity
and drought to the United States, is over, says James Baker, a weather
expert. He says it means a return to normal weather but also more
uncertainties without the influence of these phenomena.
Nuclear power
A revival may be afoot in the United States electrical generating industry
to bring nuclear power back from exile because of the energy crunch caused
by high fuel prices.
Heaviest wood
The heaviest of all woods is black ironwood (South African ironwood)
weighing 93 pounds per cubic foot.
Tallest tree
Rainforest trees can grow to a height of a 20-storey building, and the
tallest known tree is a redwood from California which is 366 feet high.