NASSAU, Bahamas -- In honour of the fifth annual Blue Water Day, RBC Royal Bank awarded a $75,000 Blue Water Project Leadership Grant to The College of The Bahamas (COB). RBC's Blue Water Project is a $50 million global initiative to help provide access to drinkable, swimmable, fishable, fresh water, now and for future generations.
"We are pleased to announce the continuation of our support of water initiatives in The Bahamas and to build on our long-standing partnership with The College of The Bahamas," said Nathaniel Beneby, Jr., Managing Director for RBC Royal Bank in The Bahamas, Cayman and Turks & Caicos Islands. "RBC has an ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability, and we have chosen to focus on water as a core area of support because we believe that access to water will be one of the most significant environmental and economic issues facing the world in the coming decades."
In applying for the grant, officials at COB point out that The Bahamas currently does not have a national awareness programme on the important role water plays in supporting the tourism industry, even though preliminary studies have shown local groundwater supplies to be almost depleted. With RBC's financial support, this initiative will bring together researchers and hotel industry partners to expand research, training, and outreach activities focused on sustainable water use. The programme will also provide hands-on learning for undergraduate students in COB's world-class research environment.
"On behalf of COB, I want to thank RBC Royal Bank for its generous donation," said Dr. Earla Carey-Baines, Acting President of COB. "Preservation and conservation of our fresh water resources is an important area of concern for The Bahamas, especially within the hotel and tourism industry. The dramatic growth in tourism over the past two decades has resulted in a rapidly increasing demand for fresh water, even as the supply continues to decrease. The COB's Water Initiative is designed to draw attention to this issue and to help formulate policy solutions to safeguard freshwater supplies for the city now and for the future."

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