Harold Stewart's letter on water storage (December 4) has hit the nail on the head. In most of my classes at the University of Guelph, I fell asleep, as I was 42 years when I started, and sluggish most of the time.

In one of my land resources science class I was barely awake when rainfall was the topic. I could swear I heard the professor say Jamaica has the highest record for rainfall run-off, in that several inches of rain fell over a period of time, and in no time it was gone.

The real problem

This is the real problem Jamaica has on its hand. Believe it or not, if there's no bank for the people to save money, they can't get a loan. It's just the same if there's no catchment for rainfall, then it has to be reverse osmosis to save Jamaica, or the idea I would like to put forward.

Jamaica is a mountainous country, and within these mountain basins or belly, there are tons of water. They start out as streams, springs, creeks, tributaries, and rivers. All these water sources were here before you, and I, and were used by the Maroons for centuries.

Rise and fall method

We have the Long Mountains, Blue Mountains, Bull Head, Dolphin, Chapelton, Mocho, and the Cockpit mountains. These are the locations that can be tapped before and after rainfall. How to do it? Use the rise and fall method. First find the water source in the above areas, and build micro pumping stations. Then push the water up the mountain sides to a plateau; afterwards use the slope to pitch the water downhill, and repeat as needed until all areas of Jamaica are saturated.

If the government of the day can't do this for the Jamaican people, then they should call in investors to do so.

I am, etc.,

DANNY HAYLES

nhayles@rogers.com

Brampton, Ontario

Canada