For a while, let’s come back to history.
The main problem for the pirates was not the warships of the Spanish fleet or the gallows that were waiting for them in almost every port, but simple drinking water.
For us, pirates are the legendary gentlemen of fortune.
Superheroes from the past Movie, cartoon, and book characters
But I am wondering: how was it possible to board a ship when there was no drinking water on board?
The Caribbean is in the tropics.
In such a climate, it was almost impossible to store water and food on the ship.
The drinking water went rotten instantly.
To replenish fresh water supplies, pirate ships could not enter any port.
So half of the losses among filibusters are not from bullets, cannonballs, sabers, and knives but from a lack of water.
As the song says, “It’s not beer that kills people; it’s water that kills people.”
Here, a bottle of rum came for help.
Rum and pirates are always together—on the screens and pages of books.
Do you know why?
The rum didn’t sour!
And it was the most affordable strong liquor in these latitudes.
Rum was mixed with water to somehow disinfect it and kill the sour taste.
Therefore, yes, the pirates were often tipsy.
Maritime novels rarely deal with such unpleasant everyday problems.
One-eyed and one-legged, with a parrot on his shoulder, a bottle of rum and a saber in his hands, dexterous and cheerful—this is what book pirates look like.
A kind of crime romance.
In life, everything was not so rosy.
More than once, it was the lack of drinking water that forced the formidable sea wolves to return empty-handed.
Because of the water on the ships, there were riots.
Even entire crews died.
Perhaps the whole history of the development of the islands of the Caribbean would have been different if the pirates in those days had known how to conserve water and food.
Caribbean countries are experiencing an acute shortage of clean drinking water.
In addition, there are serious sanitation problems.
For example, only 13% of Saint Lucia’s population has access to sewerage.
Some countries in the eastern Caribbean, such as Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and St.
Kitts and Nevis, are officially listed as drinking water-scarce countries.
Careless tourists exacerbate the problem.
For example, expensive hotels use five or even ten times more water than a similar complex where the local population lives.
Small island states will hardly be able to solve all these problems without the cooperation and assistance of the international community.
Now let’s figure out how worse the situation is and how safe it is to drink water in the Caribbean.
Finding Safe Drinking Water in the Caribbean
Safe drinking water can be found only in supermarkets.
When I went to the Caribbean, I always bought many bottles of drinking water.
Tap water is not drinkable here.
I washed fruits, vegetables, and dishes with it and even cooked pasta in it, but the tea came out with a tasteless sediment.
For it and the soups, I used only purchased water.
Which Caribbean Island Has Safe Drinking Water?
Aruba has safe drinking water.
Tap water in Aruba meets all WHO standards.
This means you don’t have to spend money on plastic water bottles.
You can easily quench your thirst right from the tap.
Since Aruba does not have a significant supply of fresh water, tap water is distilled in a desalination plant, making it potable.
Which Caribbean Country Has the Best Drinking Water?
The island of Aruba has the best drinking water.
Aruba is known for its quality drinkable water in all of the Caribbean.
WEB NV is the only water supplier on the island and produces all drinking and industrial water.
It is the second-largest seawater desalination plant in the world.
Aruba has a very high quality of drinking water; you can drink it straight from the tap.
The average cost of water bills is $82.
In homes with extensive landscaping, water bills are about $170 per month.
With an average pool size, the monthly water consumption is estimated at $250.
Which Caribbean Island Has no Fresh Water?
A remote island off the coast of Belize did not have drinkable water until 2020; now this island in the Caribbean produces drinking water from the air!
On a remote island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean is the fishing village of Cay Caulker, which has no fresh water.
Ferries delivered bottled water there, but after the spread of the coronavirus, the supply stopped.
The villagers did not lose heart and got out of the situation.
In late 2020, hydro panels were installed in Cay Caulker that produce water from air.
The installation is part of a large-scale sustainable development project called the Caribbean Climate Smart Island Program.
The hydroelectric panels installed in the village are powered by solar energy.
They are able to produce water even when the air humidity is only 10 percent.
And there is no shortage of precipitation in the region—it falls here more than enough.
The main thing is that rainwater must be collected and cleaned.
A big plus for the environment is that the use of hydropanels contributes to the reduction of plastic waste.
The panels at Cay Caulker will eliminate the nearly one million single-use plastic bottles that residents previously used.
Each hydropanel can produce up to 924 gallons of potable water per month.
Drinking Water Contamination in the Caribbean
The Caribbean suffers from a water crisis.
The reason for the sharp shortage of drinking water in the Caribbean is the severe pollution of water bodies.
Traditional sources—springs, wells, and mountain streams—have in recent years been polluted with fertilizers from the fields, washed out of the soil by heavy rains, and household and industrial waste.
According to the Caribbean Regional Wastewater Management Fund, up to 85% of sewage here is discharged into water bodies or the ocean without prior treatment.
Situations sometimes balance on the verge of the emergence of mass infectious diseases.
In this regard, rainwater harvesting, proposed by American experts, is an alternative way to accumulate and store fresh water.
