Segment information (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Schedule of Segment Reporting Information, by Segment [Table Text Block]

The Company’s segments are strategic business units that are managed separately because each segment sells different products and/or services, serves customers with distinctly different needs and generates different gross profit margins.

	Year Ended December 31, 2017
	Retail		Bulk		Services		Manufacturing		Total
Revenues	$	23,225,066	$	31,621,756	$	469,347	$	6,990,496		62,306,665
Cost of revenues		10,372,199		21,066,207		469,797		4,963,962		36,872,165
Gross profit (loss)		12,852,867		10,555,549		(450)		2,026,534		25,434,500
General and administrative expenses		12,134,983		1,248,414		3,043,078		2,646,504		19,072,979
Long-lived asset impairment and disposition losses, net		1,640,158		-		-		1,400,000		3,040,158
Income (loss) from operations	$	(922,274)	$	9,307,135	$	(3,043,528)	$	(2,019,970)		3,321,363
Other income, net										1,522,233
Income before income taxes										4,843,596
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes										(888,977)
Net income										5,732,573
Loss attributable to non-controlling interests										(411,489)
Net income attributable to Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. stockholders									$	6,144,062

Depreciation and amortization expenses for the year ended December 31, 2017 for the retail, bulk, services and manufacturing segments were $2,008,992, $3,814,444, $44,934 and $1,603,971, respectively. 

	As of December 31, 2017
	Retail		Bulk		Services		Manufacturing		Total
Accounts receivable, net	$	2,406,595	$	10,177,620	$	1,155,318	$	1,308,313	$	15,047,846
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	23,172,382	$	25,420,819	$	84,339	$	1,847,524	$	50,525,064
Construction in progress	$	321,368	$	1,498,625	$	3,291	$	-	$	1,823,284
Intangibles, net	$	-	$	533,767	$	-	$	3,231,667	$	3,765,434
Goodwill	$	1,170,511	$	2,328,526	$	-	$	4,885,211	$	8,384,248
Land held for development	$	-	$	-	$	20,558,424	$	-	$	20,558,424
Total segment assets	$	52,095,524	$	75,785,323	$	24,488,173	$	13,111,875	$	165,480,895

	Year Ended December 31, 2016
	Retail		Bulk		Services		Manufacturing		Total
Revenues	$	23,505,619	$	29,647,034	$	835,770	$	3,887,284	$	57,875,707
Cost of revenues		10,294,298		19,488,550		751,139		3,090,834		33,624,821
Gross profit		13,211,321		10,158,484		84,631		796,450		24,250,886
General and administrative expenses		11,460,165		1,744,840		3,163,972		2,308,607		18,677,584
Long-lived asset impairment and (gain)/loss on dispositions, net		1,953,943		(1,000)		(271,726)		1,754,402		3,435,619
Income (loss) from operations	$	(202,787)	$	8,414,644	$	(2,807,615)	$	(3,266,559)		2,137,683
Other income, net										103,573
Income before income taxes										2,241,256
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes										(536,057)
Net income										2,777,313
Loss attributable to non-controlling interests										(1,183,188)
Net income attributable to Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. stockholders									$	3,960,501

Depreciation and amortization expenses for the year ended December 31, 2016 for the retail, bulk, services and manufacturing segments were $2,468,846, $3,288,083, $116,151 and $1,548,188, respectively.

	As of December 31, 2016
	Retail		Bulk		Services		Manufacturing		Total
Accounts receivable, net	$	2,646,628	$	12,692,714	$	629,930	$	531,526	$	16,500,798
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	24,890,031	$	26,124,724	$	91,030	$	1,978,320	$	53,084,105
Construction in progress	$	134,392	$	743,296	$	-	$	7,806	$	885,494
Intangibles, net	$	-	$	599,960	$	15,516	$	4,580,000	$	5,195,476
Goodwill	$	1,170,511	$	2,328,526	$	-	$	6,285,211	$	9,784,248
Land held for development	$	-	$	-	$	20,558,424	$	-	$	20,558,424
Total segment assets	$	54,303,011	$	68,663,628	$	25,558,495	$	15,079,394	$	163,604,528

	Year Ended December 31, 2015
	Retail		Bulk		Services		Manufacturing		Total
Revenues	$	23,254,757	$	31,854,255	$	2,007,190	$	-	$	57,116,202
Cost of revenues		10,543,972		21,634,789		1,629,221		-		33,807,982
Gross profit		12,710,785		10,219,466		377,969		-		23,308,220
General and administrative expenses		11,095,349		1,605,943		2,138,864		-		14,840,156
Long-lived asset impairment and (gain)/loss on dispositions, net		33,166		(600)		-		-		32,566
Income (loss) from operations	$	1,582,270	$	8,614,123	$	(1,760,895)	$	-		8,435,498
Other income (expense), net										(510,004)
Net income										7,925,494
Income attributable to non-controlling interests										406,793
Net income attributable to Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. stockholders									$	7,518,701

Schedule of Revenue from External Customers Attributed to Foreign Countries by Geographic Area [Table Text Block]

Revenues earned by major geographic region were:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2016		2015
Cayman Islands	$	30,218,830	$	31,211,705	$	32,735,215
Bahamas		21,528,494		19,554,944		21,062,081
Indonesia		159,856		91,311		368,012
Belize		2,939,643		2,614,989		2,422,547
United States		6,990,496		3,887,284		-
Revenues earned from management services agreement with OC-BVI		469,346		515,474		528,347
	$	62,306,665	$	57,875,707	$	57,116,202

Revenues earned from major customers were:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016			2015
Revenues earned from the Water and Sewerage Corporation ("WSC")	$	21,307,993		$	19,254,396		$	20,770,347
Percentage of total revenues from the WSC		34	%		33	%		36	%
Revenues earned from the Water Authority - Cayman ("WAC")	$	7,153,620		$	7,477,101		$	8,369,627
Percentage of total revenues from the WAC		11	%		13	%		15	%

Long-lived Assets by Geographic Areas [Table Text Block]

Property, plant and equipment, net by major geographic region were:

	December 31,
	2017		2016
Cayman Islands	$	23,182,334	$	24,252,351
Bahamas		24,511,285		25,180,669
Belize		841,293		907,752
Indonesia		-		612,568
United States		1,847,524		1,978,321
Other		142,628		152,444
	$	50,525,064	$	53,084,105