US Chemist Warns: Tiger Woods Albany Bahamas Golf Course Development Could Threaten Bahamas Water Supply

Nassau, Bahamas (August 7, 2008) - In an interview in The Bahamas, US water and hazardous chemical specialist Samuel Sage outlined that access for Bahamians to a consistent and affordable water supply could be threatened by Tiger Woods Albany Bahamas development.

According to Mr. Sage, the Environmental Impact Assessment on the proposed luxury development does not include evidence of developers considering its long term impact on New Providence's fresh water supply.

Sage also said that as far as he is concerned water is the most important issue at stake as the exclusive project moves ahead. Sage is the president of New York-based environmental organization, Atlantic States Legal Foundation, which works on environmental issues. Mr Sage, who is a former Executive Director of U.S. environmental organization the Sierra Club, has reviewed the Albany Environmental Impact Assessment.

According to Mr. Sage, "I don't think what they're doing is the best practice environmentally. If they are doing the best they are certainly not sharing the data with the public, they are not proving it.Ó

"I'm not saying they shouldn't build the resort, that's the decision of the people of the Bahamas, but there are always ways to be more benign to the environment." Mr. Sage said an appeal needs to be made to Tiger Woods and his co- developers to do what they can to make the property a "gold star" resort environmentally.

Marina to cut into fresh water lens
Albany's million dollar homes, canal and marina will sit on what has been identified by experts as Nassau's most plentiful fresh water repository. The "groundwater lens" is a layer of fresh water that collects around five feet below ground, made up of rainwater that has sifted through the soil and gathered there.

Currently the Water and Sewage Corporation relies on groundwater well fields for some, but not all of the water it supplies, with the rest being shipped in from Andros, another Bahamas island, or created through the desalination of seawater by reverse osmosis. Groundwater can become contaminated with run off from above, or by an influx of salt water from the ocean, making it unusable unless treated.

Mr. Sage and other environmentalists are concerned the development will compromise Nassau's most important freshwater lens and it will be very costly, in terms of money and energy, or simply impossible for it to be saved. "One shot of money that comes into Bahamian economy isn't going to do people any good if they don't have water to drink," he said.

For more information about the ongoing destruction of one of Nassau Bahamas¹ longest beaches by the Tiger Woods development, please visit http://www.reearth.org (see Albany section).

For more information, contact:
reEarth Bahamas
PO Box N302
Nassau, The Bahamas
Phone: 242-393-7604
Web: www.reearth.org
Email: info@reearth.org

reEarth is a nonprofit, community based environmental watch group, founded in 1990, dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of environmental issues.

This release was published on openPR.