"Despite the public's heavy reliance on desalinated water and the Water and Sewerage Department's (W&S) immoderate expenditure on the same, the BVI Government has on more than one occasion failed to take advantage of opportunities to acquire ownership in local plants." This in a capsule is the opinion of Chief Auditor Sonia M. Webster on this thorny subject. All of the public water supply on Tortola and Virgin Gorda is desalinated water bought by W&S from two privately-owned companies and from the BVI Electricity Corporation. In providing painstakingly researched findings, Mrs. Webster points out that during the period 1996-2002 W&S spent over $43 million to purchase water from these three companies. 

The local Government has had repeated opportunities to invest in desalination plants but has routinely failed to capitalise on these. In 1988 the contract between Hydro Management Services and the BVI Government stipulated that after the term of the sixty-month contract the Government could either issue extensions or terminate the arrangement altogether, or exercise an option to purchase the equipment from the company. This option was not exercised. But this was only the beginning of a series of mystifyingly serious and expensive mistakes. The agreement with another company which later became Ocean Conversion was signed in 1990 for a term of seven years. Government had the option of either extending the term of the agreement for another seven years or purchasing the plant for a little over $1 million at the end of the contract term. In 1999 a negotiation team examined the feasibility of purchasing the plant but a decision was never reached. Despite this missed opportunity, the Ocean Conversion agreement stipulated that if the arrangement was extended for another seven years, then upon completion of this second term "the plant shall become the property of the BVI without any further payment." In 2000 a new agreement was drafted and it envisaged extending the company's contract for a further 15 years. If adopted, this agreement would preclude the Government from taking ownership of the plant after the expiration of what should have been a total 14-year term. The agreement was never finalised and presently there is no formal arrangement in place between the parties.

In 1999, when Government was reviewing the possibility of purchasing the plant, a proposal by Ocean Conversion outlined an initial capital cost of $2,598,000 and the annual operation cost of $2,066,000. Since expiration of the Ocean Conversion first seven-year term, the Government has paid well over $11.8 million for the period 2000-2002 to Ocean Conversion for desalinated water. In concluding her review Mrs. Webster noted that "in light of these staggering costs, serious thought should be given to the possibility of acquiring and running this property." "Such a move could lead to significant savings in purchase of water for the public". We would like to call the new government's attention to this matter with the hope that such mistakes will never be repeated again.