WITH new companies setting up, the population growing and construction projects in full flow, Bermuda appears to be booming.

But the continuing development is putting strain on the environment and the time is right for experts from different fields to sit down and decide when enough growth is enough, according to environmental scientist Dr. Kent Simmons.

Dr. Simmons was last month appointed chief scientist in charge of environmental programmes at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, where he has worked for 15 years. He said the environmental effects of population growth would be high on his agenda.

A greater numbers of cesspits, a larger volume of air pollution and the disappearance of open spaces under concrete were all symptoms of progressive growth, he said.

"Bermuda being as small as it is, we are past the point where whatever we do is absorbed by the environment," said Dr. Simmons. "Now we are leaving a residue - there is more pollution.

"For example, with cesspits, in the past when the population was small, the effect of the cesspits was small and the environment simply assimilated it. But today, in that aspect, we are seeing some groundwater contamination. And we are beginning to impact on inshore waters.

"I am not prepared to say whether the island has as many people as it can handle right now, but that is something that we need to sit down and look at seriously from an environmental point of view. I know the Planning Department does some work like this already.

"There will come a point when we have to decide whether this is enough. It will be hard to tell the business community and the people developing housing, 'OK, we are coming to the end'. But at some point, it will come to that."

Limits needed to be set and decided by a group including planners, Government representatives and environmental experts, said Dr. Simmons.

"In a sense, the signs have been there for some time. It is in our national interest to save our open spaces. It is easy for people to recognise that more of our open space is being eaten up every year. When do we stop?

"We have to decide what we want as our minimum amount of open space and say 'we have to stop there - there is now a block on future development for the sake of the environment'."

Dr. Simmons has been heavily involved in monitoring air quality over the last decade and more, particularly as regards smoke stack emissions from the Tyne's Bay household waste incinerator.

"We have been monitoring air quality at a site about one kilometre from Tyne's Bay for a long time. We thought we would see a higher rate of pollution when the winds were blowing from the direction of the incinerator.

"What we have been finding, however, is that the pollution has been more noticeable when the winds have been blowing from the City of Hamilton."

He added that this was probably due to exhaust emissions.

Dr. Simmons said his work also involved checking out the causes of environmental phenomena like fish kills that have been occurring in Harrington Sound.

"We are trying to establish whether these incidents are linked to population growth, for example whether there is leakage from cesspits in that area, or whether it is a natural occurrence. A lot of these questions remain open," he said.