Albany brewery ships water to Guam's typhoon victims

ALBANY - An Albany brewery is shipping 1,700 cases of bottled water to the Pacific island of Guam, where a typhoon devastated much of the island&#39;s water system and caused a shortage of safe drinking water. <br> <br> Typhoon Pongsona hit the island earlier this month with 180-mph winds, leaving one person dead, destroying more than 2,000 homes and causing between $30 million and $50 million in damage. <br> <br> The emergency water from Miller Brewing Co.&#39;s Albany brewery will be distributed to both U.S. military personnel and civilians on Guam, a U.S. territory located about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii. <br> <br> ``We hope that this contribution helps the people and families of Guam through this difficult time,&#39;&#39; said Michael Brophy, spokesman for Miller Brewing Co. in Milwaukee. <br> <br> About 670 cases 8,000 bottles will go to U.S. military personnel and their families. Another 1,000 cases 12,500 bottles will go to civilians, the company said. <br> <br> The water is expected to arrive around Jan. 1 and will be distributed by the Red Cross. <br> <br> The Dec. 8 typhoon snapped concrete telephone poles in half, peeled corrugated tin roofing off houses and flipped over cars. <br> <br> Hundreds of federal emergency workers are on the island to assist, and an airlift is under way to deliver millions of dollars worth of supplies. <br> <br> The only death attributed to the storm was an elderly woman who was cut badly and then went into cardiac arrest, authorities said. <br> <br> Miller, which has 640 workers in Albany, has provided bottled drinking water on numerous occasions in support of U.S. and international relief efforts. The company also shipped water to Guam in July when another typhoon hit the island. <br> <br> Many residents of southwestern Georgia, including some of the Miller plant workers, benefited from emergency water shipments following major flooding of the Flint River and its tributaries in 1994. <br> <br> Albany officials have always taken pride in the abundance and quality of the water that is pumped from large aquifers below the city, but a five-year drought has raised serious questions about the ability of the aquifers to meet both residential and agricultural needs during prolonged dry spells. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re having a little bit of a water shortage ourselves,&#39;&#39; said Albany Mayor Tommy Coleman. ``That adds a twist to it, but no so much that we can&#39;t help others. <br> <br> ``Our groundwater is among the purest in the world,&#39;&#39; he said. ``I&#39;m certainly glad that we have companies in our community that understand their responsibilities not only to their local communities, but also to the world community. You don&#39;t have to have a long memory to remember when our water systems were contaminated (by the flood) and someone had to bring us water.&#39;&#39;