Grand Turk Project: Issue, objective, and beneficiaries

A specific issue facing the 3,700 people living on the island of Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands is that access to drinking water is inconsistent and fresh water shortages are common. The relatively small consumer and industrial base on the island and its isolated location creates access and importation challenges, making fresh water and fresh produce expensive. Most goods are imported first via the more heavily populated island of Providenciales. In fact, the population of Grand Turk is dependent on imported fresh produce and bottled drinking water to a degree that makes the population vulnerable to health risks when transportation links are broken during natural or human-caused disasters. Our specific objective is to build, on Grand Turk, a water-producing greenhouse system that obtains fresh water from the ambient moist tropical air to provide irrigation water for a commercial greenhouse operation growing food crops and yields surplus water for drinking water bottling. The design of the system provides a relatively cool growing area so that temperate climate food crops grow at sea level in a tropical climate. Immediate beneficiaries of the project are the people of Grand Turk who will enjoy improved food and water security with attendant health benefits such as better nutrition. Our greenhouse system would benefit local employment. Wider benefits from the greenhouse, encompassing the entire TCI, will be much-needed economic diversification, new jobs in other businesses that interact with the greenhouse operation, and introduction of new skills and technologies.