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Business View Caribbean
ter. Then, in the late ‘80s, it started to operate its first
reverse osmosis plant. “Sea water reverse osmosis
(SWRO) technology had been around since the 1960s,
but it had a limited track record on a large scale com-
pared to the then more commonly used thermal de-
salination processes,” says van Zanten. “There were
seawater reverse osmosis plants throughout the Ca-
ribbean for developments, but we were one of the first
to use it for island-wide supply. Initially it was a very
small plant – 60,000 gallons a day to bridge us to the
time that a larger plant was operational. And we have
been using seawater, reverse osmosis throughout, not
only on this island but also on our sister island of Cay-
man Brac.” In its early days, van Zanten says that one
of the biggest drawbacks of SWRO was its high energy
costs. “But as a result of some good developments in
regards to membrane technology and energy recovery,
the costs have come down, considerably,” he reports.
“It’s still expensive, but it’s a lot better than it was 25
or 30 years ago.”
The island’s water distribution system continued to be
extended, and by 2008, piped water was available to
nearly all residents of Grand Cayman, either via the
Water Authority’s water distribution system, or via the
(much smaller) water distribution system owned by
Cayman Water Company, a private company operating
under a license from the Government. “Close to a hun-
dred percent of the island is hooked up to the system,”
van Zanten says.
