In December 2017, Caribbean360 reported that the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) had approved US$29 million for Antigua and Barbuda's government to rebuild after Hurricane Irma. Irma had struck Barbuda on 6 September 2017 as a Category 5 storm and badly damaged the island's water supply among other things. The project included restoring Barbuda's desalination plant and its water storage, 11 km of road with a bridge, schools, and facilities for farming and fishing.
The report showed how exposed a small Caribbean island's water supply was to a major storm: on Barbuda, desalination counted as critical infrastructure to be restored with development bank funding.