Dear Editor,
I am shocked by the suggestion to ask ExxonMobil to solve Guyana’s drainage problems. ExxonMobil does not have the knowhow for solving the technical problems of the coastal ecology of Northeast South America, of which Guyana is part. ExxonMobil’s geophysics is world class, but is meant for solving other problems, like finding oil.
My late half-literate father knew deeply about the coastal drainage system because he spent 40+ years of his life working on a sugar estate, where drainage is the order of the day. Failure to maintain the intricate drainage system meant the failure of the business model and he would be out of a job. He would have told you about middle-walk canals, drainage canals, punt-trench canals (the transport canals), side-line dams and canals, back dams and canals, sea dams, etc.
He understood how species adaptation resulted in hybrid shrimp when the sea water mixed with fresh water in the drainage canals. The most delicious shrimp I have ever had, by the way. My dad would have told you about the purpose of the aqueduct and how they connect different canals which served different purposes. He understood how the closure of one koker back in the 1980s will cause flash flooding. He mentioned it to Mr. Hamilton Green at the time, but nothing was done to reverse course.
He also recognized that covering existing canals and drains without implementing alternative reservoirs and drainage systems would likely lead to increased flooding as urbanization expands. He was acutely aware that we needed a house on stilts because the flat two-bedroom house, financed by the Sugar Welfare Fund in 1954, was not enough to guard against flooding. He knew that we could have lost everything in a flash flood. Thankfully, the sugar estate did a fantastic job draining the place.