One of the objectives of Seven Seas Water, operators of the desalination reverse osmosis plant at Crocus Bay, Anguilla, is not only a reliable island-wide supply of water, but a high quality product as well.
As new equipment was being installed at the plant, recently, a large quantity of minerals was also thrown into the tanks. Mr. Eric Borgdo–rff, the company’s Water Field Services Operation Manager in Anguilla, told The Anguillian newspaper that, apart from removing the salt, viruses and bacteria from the seawater, calcium carbonate and other minerals were being added to the water. At the end of the full process chlorine will also be applied to the water for island-wide distribution – all of this making the water a not only a drinkable but a safe and high-quality product.
Pointing to large heaps of bags of material outside the seawater reverse osmosis plant, Mr. Bordorff explained that they contained seven different sizes of gravel that were being placed into the various tanks and filters to improve the quality of the water.
The capacity and output of the plant will be enhanced by a larger set of pumping equipment according to him. “We have two 35-horsepower motors but we will increase them to 75 horsepower – and will be using fiberglass lines instead of PVC in order to reduce costs and for design purposes,” he stated.
Mr. Hubert Lopez of St. Maarten, who has been serving as Adviser to the Water Corporation of Anguilla, commented: “I have not been here since the signing of the agreement, but I see a lot of activities that are going in the right direction. Seeing the number of people working, and the materials that are here, give me a lot of confidence in what is going on. At the end of the day the intention is to have water for the whole community of Anguilla 24 hours, seven days a week.”
Mr. Christopher Richardson, Chairman of the Water Corporation, was delighted with the progress of the work at the reverse osmosis plant which will provide most of the water. The rest will be provided from the island’s Valley well field operated by TSG, a water company based in in Anguilla. Mr. Richardson was pleased that it would not only be possible to supply the people of Anguilla with up to one million gallons of water daily, but the hotels and their guests as well.
“We previously had about fourteen hundred customers,” he explained. “To date, we have about twenty-two hundred on the water distribution system and there are other persons who are requesting to come on also. We look forward to having the hotels as well buying into this vision. It can be more economical to go with the Water Corporation of Anguilla so we are also looking for the resorts – Belmond Cap Juluca, CuisinArt, Malliouhana, Four Seasons and others – to come on the system. Zemi Beach has already agreed in its MOU that it has to be on the system, so once it is up Zemi will be on for sure. We are going to be negotiating with the other resorts to come on the system so our glory days will soon come when water will be running throughout this island.”
Over the past two- and-a-half years the reverse osmosis plant was operated by Caribbean Water Treatment, Antigua, but reportedly suffered frequent breakdowns. Subsequently, Seven Seas Water, which operates from St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, was contracted to provide the desalination water with effect from October 4, 2018.
Mr. Richardson explained: “Over the two-and- a-half-year period, there were multi breakdowns. At a point in time the plant was down for two or three weeks…We had to find a way out, and so we went through the process of a buy out of the plant. Seven Seas Water was one of the bidders that came in to bid for the plant and was successful. The contract with Seven Seas is for ten years in the first instance. After that it goes out on bid. It is almost like a purchase/lease agreement. At the end of ten years Seven Seas will then give the plant over to us. We will decide whether or not we have the expertise to operate the plant or we put it out again on another tender. However, the tanks provided to us are on a lease/purchase agreement for twenty years. So even though we have just the plant for ten years, the tanks are actually for twenty years. At the end of the ten years, though, we can buy-out those tanks as well. It all depends.”
The current upgrades at the seawater reverse osmosis plant have a price tag of over five million US dollars, according to Mr. Richardson.
