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28 September 2016 - Business View Caribbean

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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.