Looming water problem

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by aegap

"Cap Cana is a village"
-According to this article in the French magazine "L'essentiel des Relations Internationales," when completed, Cap Cana will have 15,000 homes and will be able to accommodate an average population of 40,000. I believe that number to be higher than the current accommodation capacity of the entire Punta Cana region. Cap Cana will be a community about six times the size of Sotogrande, with better beaches and a larger marina if I may add. How's that for sustainable upscale quality tourism!

and a looming serious water supply problem. How's that sustainable?

[KateP]

Originally Posted by Keith R

and a looming serious water supply problem. How's that sustainable?

Actually, CapCana has many fresh water natural reserves (or holes) on its property. I don't have the exact numbers so I don't know if it'll be enough but so far they don't look too worried...

[Keith R]

Perhaps that's the problem -- they're not worried enough yet. I've been reading up on the water supply issue in the DR for a Green Team blog, and have come across some recent government, development bank and aid agency documents expressing concern that "overbuilding" in that zone will soon seriously overtax the area's water resources. One of the things I'm trying to do at the moment is determine what, if anything, has been done in response to these concerns.

[NALs]

Originally Posted by Keith R

and a looming serious water supply problem. How's that sustainable?

For high end developments such as Cap Cana, the water supply will most likely be replaced with desalination plants, similar to how the electrical deficit is being taken care of with their own electrical generation, off the national grid.

The ocean is slowly becoming more integral in upper income tourist developments. For another example, look at the golf course in Puntacana Resort and Club. They use sea water (with salt and all) for irrigating the grass they planted, which is basically a new breed that survives with sea water.

-NALs

[Robert]

I have also heard that some developers/resorts are looking into desalination technology as the natural water table has been depleted and is filling up with salt water.

Even if Cap Cana are aware of the problem, they are not going to make a PR campaign out of it, it's not in their best interest.

[Chris]

Nals, you are simply wrong. You are so wrong that it is getting to the stage of being pathetic. Nearby us, another island has no natural water sources. Please check out the cost of living there. But, these folks are greening, planting, catching rainwater... and they will soon make something of their barren ecosystem which will reduce their dependence on desalination.

If you consider that it is fine to deplete or contaminate the ground-water, you are also saying that it is fine for the following to happen:

* drying up of surrounding wells that supply water for people and animals
* reduction of water in streams and lakes - do I have to say anything or are we going to invent fish in the future
* deterioration of water quality - have you ever drunk desalinated water on the long term? I have, when sailing. It is not good for you - no natural minerals you see - the dentists will tell you that you'll soon have a real problem with your teeth.
* increased cost to the consumer
* sink holes and land giving way under your feet

Here are some water basics for you, from the US Department of the Interior. They have put this together for school kids. Start there. And please, get some education before you try to talk about these issues.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html

Now, I'm out of here...

[Keith R]

Considering his advocacy of desalination in the context of the artificial island proposal, I figured Nals would pop in here and champion desalination as well.

Desalination tech is possible to use. But the energy demands will probably increase the costs of providing water to the community 20-30%. And there's the pesky little problem of proper environmental management of the hypersaline brine the process creates, which US-EPA classifies as industrial waste. Also doable, but not cheap. And once again, we must consider the Dominican context, where the track record in the proper management of industrial wastes is not exactly sterling...

I would think that properly designed rainwater catchment systems, like some of the other Caribbean islands use, might be a cheaper and less environmentally troublesome option, but I'm still reading up on those so can't yet vouch for their pluses and minuses. I seem to recall a discussion on this in a past thread, maybe I can dig it up.

Rob's right. The Capcana developers are not going to go around highlighting the problem, but they're aware of it. Question is what they're doing about it, and will it be enough soon enough.

[NALs]

I will not go into a back and forth debate over this, it's rediculous that I have to constantly debate the same duet in what appears to be every thread!

However, I will respond to your most recent postings:

Originally Posted by Chris

Nals, you are simply wrong. You are so wrong that it is getting to the stage of being pathetic.

You, as well as the rest of the DR1ers, are entitled to your own opinions.

Originally Posted by Chris

If you consider that it is fine to deplete or contaminate the ground-water, you are also saying that it is fine for the following to happen:

* drying up of surrounding wells that supply water for people and animals
* reduction of water in streams and lakes - do I have to say anything or are we going to invent fish in the future
* deterioration of water quality - have you ever drunk desalinated water on the long term? I have, when sailing. It is not good for you - no natural minerals you see - the dentists will tell you that you'll soon have a real problem with your teeth.
* increased cost to the consumer
* sink holes and land giving way under your feet

Thank you for not putting words in my mouth by starting such statement with the word "if". However, I am not saying such thing.

1. Desalination plants would reduce dependence on the natural spring and/or underground river system that exist in the eastern DR.

2. Who in their right mind would use desalinated water for drinking? You are suppose to use such water for things such as washing dishes, cleaning, showering, etc. If its drinking water that anyone wants, I'll suggest bottle water. In fact, most of you guys already drink bottled and/or purified water via home purification systems and/or purified water sold by some enterprise.

3. The added expense of desalinated water can be controlled by not wasting water. Use water when you have to use it for cleaning purposes and afterwards, shut the faucet, fix leaky pipes, etc! The alternative is either to use sea water with salt (not good) or continue to drain the wells and underground rivers found in that region (something nobody wants).

-NALs

[NALs]

Originally Posted by Keith R

Considering his advocacy of desalination in the context of the artificial island proposal, I figured Nals would pop in here and champion desalination as well.

Desalination tech is possible to use. But the energy demands will probably increase the costs of providing water to the community 20-30%. And there's the pesky little problem of proper environmental management of the hypersaline brine the process creates, which US-EPA classifies as industrial waste. Also doable, but not cheap. And once again, we must consider the Dominican context, where the track record in the proper management of industrial wastes is not exactly sterling...

I would think that properly designed rainwater catchment systems, like some of the other Caribbean islands use, might be a cheaper and less environmentally troublesome option, but I'm still reading up on those so can't yet vouch for their pluses and minuses. I seem to recall a discussion on this in a past thread, maybe I can dig it up.

Rob's right. The Capcana developers are not going to go around highlighting the problem, but they're aware of it. Question is what they're doing about it, and will it be enough soon enough.

That's nice Keith.

Unfortunately, this will not change the fact that desalination is an option currently being considered and most likely will be implemented.

-NALs

[Chris]

Originally Posted by NALs

If its drinking water that anyone wants, I'll suggest bottle water. In fact, most of you guys already drink bottled and/or purified water via home purification systems and/or purified water sold by some enterprise.

-NALs

And where does this bottled water come from? Just perhaps from the spring that got killed when the ground water got contaminated with salt... If you get tired of replies to your posts, well, there are remedies.