XML 106 R16.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT
v2.4.0.8

N.S.C. Agua, S.A. de C.V. | 12 Months Ended
--- | ---
Dec. 31, 2013
Investments In and Advances To Affiliates, Schedule Of Investments [Abstract] |
Investments in and Advances to Affiliates, Schedule of Investments [Text Block] | 9. N.S.C. Agua, S.A. de C.V. In May 2010, the Company acquired, through its wholly-owned Netherlands subsidiary, Consolidated Water Cooperatief, U.A. (“Cooperatief”), a 50 % interest in N.S.C. Agua, S.A. de C.V., (“NSC”) a development stage Mexican company. The Company has since purchased, through the conversion of a previous loan to NSC, sufficient shares to raise its ownership interest in NSC to 99.9 %. NSC was formed to pursue a project encompassing the construction, operation and minority ownership of a 100 million gallon per day seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant to be located in northern Baja California, Mexico and an accompanying pipeline to deliver water to the Mexican potable water infrastructure and the U.S. border. The Company believes such a project can be successful due to what the Company anticipates will be a growing need for a new potable water supply for the areas of northern Baja California, Mexico and Southern California, United States. To complete this project, the Company has engaged two engineering groups with extensive regional and/or technical experience and entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (the “EPC MOU”) with a global engineering, procurement and construction contractor for large seawater desalination plants. If the project is completed, the Company expects to participate in the operation of the plant and pipeline and also expects to retain a minority ownership position in the project. NSC is presently seeking contracts for the electric power and feed water sources for the plant’s proposed operations, and has conducted (under the EPC MOU) an equipment piloting plant and water quality data collection program at the proposed feed water source. NSC will be required to accomplish various additional steps before it can commence construction of the plant and pipeline including, but not limited to, completing the purchases of land required for the project, obtaining approvals and permits from various governmental agencies in Mexico and the United States, securing contracts with its proposed customers to sell water in sufficient quantities and at prices that make the project financially viable, and obtaining equity and debt financing for the project. NSC’s potential customers will also be required to obtain various governmental permits and approvals in order to purchase water from NSC. In February 2012, the Company entered into an agreement (the “Option Agreement”) that provided it with an option, exercisable through February 7, 2014, to purchase the shares of one of the other shareholders of NSC, along with an immediate power of attorney to vote those shares, for $1 million. Such shares constituted 25% of the ownership of NSC as of February 2012. In May 2013, NSC repaid a $5.7 million loan payable to Cooperatief by issuing additional shares of its stock. As a result of this share issuance to Cooperatief, the Company acquired 99.9% of the ownership of NSC. The Option Agreement contained an anti-dilutive provision that required the Company to issue new shares in NSC of an amount sufficient to maintain the other shareholder’s 25% ownership interest in NSC if (i) any new shares of NSC were issued subsequent to the execution of the Option Agreement and (ii) the Company did not exercise its share purchase option by February 7, 2014. The Company exercised its option and purchased the Option Agreement shares in February 2014. NSC has entered into a purchase contract for 8.1 hectares of land on which the proposed plant would be constructed. In 2012, NSC obtained an extension of this purchase contract through May 15, 2014 in exchange for prepayments of (i) $500,000 paid at signing of the extension and (ii) a further $500,000 paid in May 2013. NSC is required to pay a balance of $6.98 million on May 15, 2014 to complete the purchase of this land. In 2013, NSC purchased an additional 12 hectares of land, which constitute most of the land required for the project, for $12 million, of which $2 million has been paid. The remaining $10 million balance for this purchase is due on May 15, 2014. In August 2012, the EPC MOU was extended for 18 months from August 19, 2012, pursuant to which the contractor installed and operated an equipment piloting plant and collected water quality data from the proposed feed water source site in Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico. The amended EPC MOU required that NSC negotiate exclusively with the contractor for the construction of the 100 million gallon per day seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant and further required payment by NSC to the contractor of up to $500,000 as compensation for the operation and maintenance of the equipment piloting plant should NSC not award the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project to the contractor. This first phase of the pilot plant testing program was completed in October 2013. NSC has decided not to extend the EPC MOU beyond its February 2014 expiration date and will pay the contractor $350,000 as compensation for the operation and maintenance of the pilot plant. NSC is currently developing additional sampling protocols to comply with regulatory requirements in the U.S. and Mexico, and is also coordinating with regulators to assess the need, if any, for further process piloting. In November 2012, NSC signed a letter of intent with Otay Water District in Southern California to deliver no less than 20 million and up to 40 million gallons of water per day from the plant to the Otay Water District at the border between Mexico and the United States. NSC has entered into a 20-year lease, effective November 2012, with the Comisión Federal de Electricidad for approximately 5,000 square meters of land on which it plans to construct the water intake and discharge works for the plant. The amounts due on this lease are payable in Mexican pesos at an amount that is currently equivalent to approximately $20,000 per month. This lease is cancellable should NSC ultimately not proceed with the project.
Included in the consolidated results of operations are general and administrative expenses from NSC, consisting of organizational, legal, accounting, engineering, consulting and other costs relating to NSC’s project development activities. Such expenses amounted to $3.2 million, $1.7 million and $3.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The assets and liabilities of NSC included in the consolidated balance sheets amounted to approximately $13,671,000 and $10,307,000, respectively, as of December 31, 2013 and approximately $1,452,000 and $116,000, respectively, as of December 31, 2012. The Company has determined that completing NSC’s development activities will require significant additional funding. The Company estimates that it will take at least until the first quarter of 2015 for NSC to complete all of the development activities (which include completing the site piloting plant activities, completing the purchase of the land for the plant, securing feed water and power supplies, completing the engineering and feasibility studies, negotiating customer contracts, obtaining the required rights-of-way and regulatory permits and arranging the project financing) necessary to commence construction of the plant and pipeline. However, NSC may ultimately be unable to complete all of the activities necessary to begin construction of the project.

X
- Details
Name: | us-gaap_InvestmentsInAndAdvancesToAffiliatesScheduleOfInvestmentsAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition The entire disclosure for the information summarizing investments in and advances to majority-owned subsidiaries, other controlled companies, and other affiliates. It reflects specified information about ownership, financial results from, and financial position in such entities. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 946 -SubTopic 320 -Section S99 -Paragraph 6 -Subparagraph (SX 210.12-14) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6955306&loc=d3e611322-123010 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 14 -Article 12 + Details
Name: | us-gaap_InvestmentsInAndAdvancesToAffiliatesScheduleOfInvestmentsTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | nonnum:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration