The quest for fresh water in TCI.

By Ben Stubenberg

“Ms. Purl” was handpainted by Nikki Forbes of Making Waves. The statue is meant to represent the Islanders who “toted” water from wells for their daily needs.

At the break of dawn back in the day, before the sun’s first rays peeked over the dark horizon. Before the vexing croaks of Cuban tree frogs ceased. And before the veil of dew finished settling over the grassy fields and dense brush, each house stirred with the rattling of tin cans and plastic buckets that families gathered before walking to the well to collect the water they would need to drink and cook and clean for the day. This first chore filled the morning with chatter and laughter and sometimes song. It was a time for gossip and giddiness and to play games if time allowed.

One by one the Islanders lowered a kettle “dipper” into the cool fresh water of the well and hauled it up with a rope made from the local sisal plant. On occasion, the rope would break, causing the dipper to fall to the bottom of the well. Fishing it back up required a bit of dexterity. So much so that the prospect of a lost dipper inspired a popular ditty.

My ma sent me to the well /  She told me not to stop 

The dipper gone in the well /  What I going tell her now Do Lord Jesus / Take it out of the well

Take it out of the well for me

After filling the buckets, the women and girls, men and boys, would, in one motion, lift them atop their heads, cushioned by a cloth wreath known as a cotter or a winder. Standing straight and tall with careful balance so no water spilled, they would “tote” the water back to the house two or three times. And then maybe a couple more trips in the late afternoon. Children learned the art by first putting a small container on their heads and then increasing the size until they mastered the posture of walking with a full bucket of water—that also became a moment of pride.

This is one of two wells in Major Hill, North Caicos. Islanders would use a “dipper” into the cool, fresh water and haul it up with a rope.

The daily ritual linked the Islanders together as a community that cared for each other. Though the chore was hard, it simply had to be done, as it was a matter of survival, and nobody complained. Everyone shared a sense of purpose, that they mattered, that they belonged. 

Times change

Reliable sources of fresh water have always been a challenge for people living in these dry, low-lying islands. When digging shallow wells into the limestone on Providenciales or North and Middle Caicos, the Islanders had to be careful not to go beyond the fresh water layer or “lens” resting atop the denser salt water. If they dug too deep, the salt water would mix with the fresh water and render it useless.

The other islands of Grand Turk, Salt Cay, and South Caicos were more dependent on tanks or cisterns to collect rainwater for the settlements. When water ran dangerously low, a barge would sometimes arrive from the Dominican Republic to replenish the tanks. Even to this day, water shortages persist on these islands, especially Grand Turk.

This vintage image shows a woman hauling up water from a well in North Caicos using a “dipper” to transfer the water into the bucket (which the boy would likely have to “tote” home).

When tourism began to redefine Providenciales some 40 years ago and the population rose dramatically, demand for drinkable water quickly jumped. Neither existing wells nor cisterns could meet the needs. The first big demand for water came from the new Club Med resort in the mid-1980s. So the government and private business formed the Turks & Caicos Water Company, a joint venture to build and operate a desalination plant across the street from the resort.

The company drilled holes deep into the limestone, 100–120 feet, to access huge pools with an endless supply of sea water that had accumulated naturally in dark caverns for eons. Once pumped to the surface, the water is pressured through filters and what are known as semi-permeable membranes to separate out the salt minerals to produce fresh, drinkable water. This process is called reverse osmosis (RO). (See image at right.)

The concentrated salt water brine left over is then piped back into a separate deeper cavern about 150 feet down. There the concentrated salt water is eventually returned to its original state through rain water and sea water seepage. The ratio of salt water removed to fresh water produced is about 60/40.

Today, the company, now under the name Provo Water Company (owned by HAB), produces more than 1 million gallons a day and supplies roughly 90% of Providenciales’ fresh water needs. Through a network of 170 miles of pipe on Provo, almost everyone, but not all, can access water with a turn of a faucet. In anticipation of greater demand in the future, Provo Water Company has developed a 20 year master plan that includes a second water production facility in Blue Hills in the next couple of years.

At Provo Water Company, sea water is forced through cartridges that contain membranes which which trap salt and other impurities but allow the fresh water through.

Meanwhile, the smaller Leeward Water Company also began supplying water on Provo, mainly to the Leeward communities, through the same RO process. Other TCI islands and a few places on Providenciales continue to rely on water from wells or home cisterns to meet their daily needs.

A new era for RO?

The industrial scale of fresh water production through RO in TCI has made life easier in Providenciales, even as it hastened the disappearance of a way of life. The long-gone days of people carrying buckets of water on their heads from the well is at once a relief and a lament for those who remember. But new advancements in RO technology may once more define how water in TCI is supplied. Beaches, Amanyara, and Northwest Point resorts have long operated their own RO production facilities rather than depend on a water company. What’s different today is that more units with high water usage, including other resorts, small businesses, single dwellings, and perhaps even small communities are able to produce their own water at a much lower cost.

One of the folks on the forefront of this change is Mike Fox. Originally from the US, he has called Providenciales home for the last 13 years. Over the past few years, Mike has been working with one of the world’s leading RO companies, AqSep based in Denmark, to make their technology available in TCI to serve a range of island water needs. AqSep uses the same RO process as the major water companies by tapping the sea water deep in limestone caverns and forcing it through membranes to filter out the salt. But the company tailors its RO technology for use on a smaller scale.

This diagram illustrates the AqSep process for tailoring RO technology for use on a smaller scale.

According to Mike, the total cost for installing an RO system that can generate 6,000 gallons a day is about $80,000. That includes drilling two holes (one to reach the sea water below the surface and one to flush the leftover brine back down), pipes, tanks, shipping, duty, the RO processing unit, and installation. The cost for producing this many gallons comes to approximately $84, a considerable saving when compared to current water costs. Mike notes that the AqSep system can in many cases pay for itself in as little as a year. The system is not generally applicable to average homes. But it starts to make economic sense for those who use more than 2,000 gallons a day.

The RO units can also be linked to solar panels to generate the energy needed to pump and process the water and thus eliminate expensive electricity costs. Incorporating solar panels also creates a financial incentive for those using less than 2,000 gallons a day. Salt water converted to fresh water on or off the grid can keep gardens green and even irrigate crops. Since dry islands like TCI have greater exposure to water shortages, diversification of water resources becomes more compelling.

One might ask, why not simply lay a pipe right offshore and suck the sea water in that way instead of drilling and pumping? The exposed ocean water actually has contaminants in it (though not harmful to swimmers and snorkelers), unlike the water trapped in caverns. Then there is the seaweed, sand, and debris in the ocean that needs to be filtered out. All add layers of complexity and expense to the process. While RO systems are able to pipe water directly from the ocean, accessing the seawater trapped in caverns below has none of the open sea impediments and thus makes the RO process easier and cheaper.

Looking forward; remembering the past

Life in the Turks & Caicos Islands, and particularly on Providenciales, has changed dramatically in just a short span of years in so many ways. RO technology has certainly hastened those changes and allowed for rapid population growth. But both the joys and hardships of collecting water before RO must not be forgotten, for they remain an essential part of TCI history and a cultural heritage.

Modest RO systems could well be the next stage of development that lowers the barrier for access to fresh water for some users. Localizing the collection of water close to home, in one sense, harkens back to bygone times. While the large water companies will continue to supply most of the Islands’ needs, recent RO advances hold out the prospect of allowing smaller entities to install their own affordable and endless supply of fresh water.

Ben Stubenberg is a regular writer for the Times of the Islands. He can be contacted through his website, www.benstubenberg.com, that features past Times of the Islands articles as well as his recent postings about the Islands.