Dear Editor,
In a SN letter of March 1, on the above referenced subject, Ms. Gildharie pleaded for assistance from the Government to provide solutions, technical and financial which are urgently needed to prevent recurring flooding of valuable farmlands and crops on the banks of the Pomeroon River. Ms. Gildarie noted in her missive that recently installed kokers and drainage and irrigation works have not solved the flooding problem of the cultivated lands and farmers in the region are of the opinion that improving the conveyance capacity of the river by dredging and widening its channel would eventually resolve their flooding problem. This may well be so, but dredging is expensive as an investment for economic returns from farming. Further, it has to be a recurring operation for it to be effective.
The estuary of the Pomeroon River is constantly being silted by mud-banks moving along Guyana’s coastland in an E-W direction and sediments in suspension are also being discharged by the River at its mouth as its fresh water mixes with the ocean’s salt water. The crops grown along the banks of the river – citrus, coffee, coconuts, avocados, etc. cannot withstand any kind of flooding and therefore the cultivated areas have to be flood free if they are to be productive and profitable. Climate change is causing more intense rainfall in tropical Guyana, including the Pomeroon, with accompanying larger volumes of water being discharged from rivers’ catchments into the oceans whose levels are rising due to melting of the Polar ice-caps.
To assist Pomeroon farmers cope with these adverse environmental changes and protect their lands from recurring flooding, several improvements have to be made. Firstly, the arable lands have to be protected with bunds and the river’s banks raised above their estimated flood level. Secondly, sluices/kokers should be installed on the banks of the river to drain the farmlands of excess water when water levels between the river and inland drains are favourable to allow for outward gravity flows. When this is not possible, installed standby pumps take over to drain the lands of their excess water thereby protecting the valuable crops from flooding. This method has proven successful elsewhere along coastal Guyana. Skeptics may claim otherwise, since occasional flooding has occurred on some farmlands and even in Georgetown, but this was not due to the system’s failure per se but to inadequate design, lack of maintenance, languid operation and poor management.
Sincerely,
Charles Sohan
