Intangible assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Intangible Assets Disclosure [Text Block]

10. Intangible assets

In 2003, as part of the acquisition of a group of companies, the Company acquired 100% of the outstanding voting common shares of DesalCo, which had an agreement to provide management and engineering services to OC-BVI. The Company attributed $856,356 of the purchase price of the acquisition to the value of this management services agreement, which has no expiration term. Initially the Company determined that this intangible asset had an indefinite life and therefore it was not amortized. However in 2010, as a result of the loss by OC-BVI of its Baughers Bay contract (see Note 8), the Company began amortizing this asset over the life of OC-BVI’s remaining seven-year water supply contract for its Bar Bay plant.

The carrying amount of the Belize Water Production and Supply Agreement is being amortized over the 23-year term of the agreement that expires in March 2026.

In February 2012, the Company paid $300,000 to enter 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 $1.0 million. This $300,000 payment was capitalized and amortized over the option period.

	December 31,
	2015		2014
Cost
Intangible asset management service agreement	$	856,356	$	856,356
Belize water production and supply agreement		1,522,419		1,522,419
Option agreement		-		300,000
		2,378,775		2,678,775
Accumulated amortization
Intangible asset management service agreement		(750,697)		(660,800)
Belize water production and supply agreement		(856,267)		(790,075)
Option agreement		-		(300,000)
		(1,606,964)		(1,750,875)
Intangible assets, net	$	771,811	$	927,900

Amortization of intangible assets for each of the next five years and thereafter is expected to be as follows:

2016	$	156,757
2017		81,286
2018		66,192
2019		66,192
2020		66,192
Thereafter		335,192
	$	771,811

Amortization expense was $156,089, $168,588, and $358,527 for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.