The following 4 desalination plants are currently undergoing permit review by the TCEQ:

The map to the left shows the planned locations of these plants (if built), along with one other private desal plant (CC Polymers) that has already been permitted.

The Problem with Corpus Christi Bay Desal Plants

Altogether, there are 7 planned seawater and 2 groundwater desalination plants in the works in our area. These would pollute our waterways with salty chemicals, heavy metals, & concentrated radioactivity. These “desal” plants are for planned industrial development—not the needs of Corpus Christi residents & businesses! Currently the entire city of Corpus Christi uses 66 million gallons per day. The water treatment plant can produce 167 million gallons per day. Residents and businesses have NEVER used more than 100 million gallons per day. We have enough water—don’t buy the lie!

Desal could put our drinking water at risk if added to our water supply: seawater contains unregulated chemicals not found in freshwater that would not be monitored. Desal plants will damage wetlands & spawning grounds for shrimp, crabs, & fish. Our economy & way of life depends on fishing & tourism. They will also damage seagrasses & prime fishing habitat for shrimp, crabs & gamefish as well as waterfowl, shorebirds & turtles.

City and county governments have given millions of dollars in tax breaks & subsidies to oil & chemical plants. These tax breaks cause budget shortfalls. There aren’t enough funds for basic public services like safe drinking water, drivable roads, park maintenance, & emergency services. Some of these plants are seeking our tax dollars for permits and construction.The cost for full build-out for just the two desal plants Corpus plans to build, the cost would be $1.3 billion. The city could potentially raise our water rates to pay for the future maintenance and operation costs. We already pay too much—we refuse to foot the bill for water that’s not for us! The maximum DAILY brine discharge from all 7 plants: 671,900,000 gallons. That means over 20 BILLION gallons of salty, radioactive discharge would be produced EVERY month!

In addition to the countless problems created by desalination plants themselves, we will also be subjected to unfathomable levels of pollution resulting from all the planned fossil fuel and plastics industries that the desalination plants would be supplying water to. By cutting off their water source, we can STOP this unhinged industrial expansion. 

Desal Plant Fight Prep Webinar

Here is a link to a video of a 1.5 hour webinar held on 3/15/21 to inform the public about why and how to challenge the permits for the various desalination plants proposed for Corpus Christi Bay.

Here are links to the individual presentations:

Region N (Coastal Bend) Water Plan

Despite objections from communities, scientists, and environmental organizations, the following “baywater” desalination plants have been identified as “recommended water management strategies” (making them eligible for Texas Water Development Board funding) in the Region N Water Plan for the Coastal Bend. Rather than withdrawing and discharging seawater into and out of the Gulf, each one of these desal plants involves diverting water from Corpus Christi Bay and discharging the salty brine back into Corpus Christi Bay. Since the Bay is a relatively shallow body of water with low water turnover (about 1.4 years), impingement and entrainment risks and increased salinity levels will all have a significant negative impact on aquatic life.

Section 5D.10 of the Region N Water Plan describes the desalination process and provides details about each of the following 5 proposed plants. Being listed in the Plan makes these desal plants eligible for low interest rate construction loans.

Additional Information from City of Corpus Christi

To better understand the City of Corpus Christi’s planned desal plants on the Inner Harbor and La Quinta Channel, we encourage you to visit the City of Corpus Christi’s website on desalination (which presents a rosy picture of the project). On April 26, 2021, proponents of desal held a 4.5 hours “Special Desalination Workshop” for the Mayor and City Council of Corpus Christi. The CAPE Calendar has links to a series of virtual town halls that were hosted by the City on Oct. 6, 8, 12, and 14 – from 6:00 – 7:15pm. For another deep dive, the City’s 9/29/20 meeting includes presentations from 10 alternative water suppliers (including 6 desalination firms), followed by discussion among City Council members. This runs from 12:16 to 4:10 (about 4 hours in total). In these presentations, you will learn about less harmful and costly alternatives to desal. KEDT also hosted an informative Desal Forum in October 2020. Desal plants inside Corpus Christi Bay are being pursued at taxpayer expense in order to minimize costs for industry while sacrificing aquatic life, as predicted by area environmental scientists. Having invested a great deal of time and money promoting desalination, the City’s positive spin on desal minimizes very serious concerns about industrial growth, environmental impacts, and costs.

Thirsty Industries

The newest major industries now constructing facilities in the Coastal Bend (Gulf Coast Growth Ventures ethane cracker (Exxon-SABIC) and Steel Dynamics) need LOTS of energy and water to cool their plants and run their processes. Several unnamed large petrochemical industries (one was code-named “Project Falcon” and suspected to be SABIC, Saudi Basic Industries) are also being enticed to build in San Patricio County, but they too need to be assured of unlimited water supplies. These plants also benefit from the area’s being “in attainment status” having relatively clean air (for now), which allows industries to avoid employing air quality controls. While desalination is being touted as a way to “drought-proof” the region’s water needs for the people, learn more about the real reason for desalination in “It’s a Fact, Jack – It Ain’t for You and Me.” The Region N Water Plan (section ES.3) projects a population growth rate of less than 1% over the next 50 years for the Coastal Bend. The 47.2% increase in demand is “primarily attributable to projected industrial growth”. Clearly, these plants are not meant to benefit the people of the Coastal Bend by creating jobs for people to live here. The time to stop them is NOW!

Environmental Impacts

Instead of constructing seawater desalination plants in the open seas like nearly all successful seawater desal plants, all of Texas’ proposed sites are planned for inside Corpus Christi Bay – at Harbor Island (Port Aransas), La Quinta Channel (Portland and Ingleside on the Bay), or the Inner Harbor (Corpus Christi). Therefore, they are more appropriately called “baywater” desalination plants. These are sensitive areas home to significant aquatic life and low water flow. Desalination sucks in sea life on intake and spits out salty brine on discharge in huge volumes – up to 100 millions of gallons of water per day for a single proposed plant! In their 2018 report to the State Legislature, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the General Land Office (GLO) prescribed specific Marine Seawater Desalination Diversion and Discharge Zones in the open Gulf and away from bay inlets. Desal plants proposed for the recommended zones can enjoy expedited permit processing from TCEQ – yet NONE of the proposed plants are proposed for being offshore. TPWD and GLO also proposed ways to make inshore desalination safe for aquatic life. The Harte Research Institute’s Statement on Desalination reinforces the conclusion that intake and brine discharge from desal plants should be piped offshore. These recommendations for low environmental impacts are being discounted because of the higher costs. City of Corpus Christi officials say it will cost $100 million to pipe the salty brine offshore, and they have no intention to ask these thirsty industries to pay for keeping our environment safe!

Costs

The Costs of Baywater Desalination are enormous compared to other water sources. However, since public entities are the ones applying for the money to build these plants (even though it’s private industries that will benefit), they are eligible for attractive low-interest loans made possible through the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). These loans must be repaid by taxpayers – even if the plants shut down. The City of Corpus Christi asserts that industries will pay for most of the plants through a voluntary Drought Exemption Fee. However, only half of the large-water-use industries are currently paying this fee. It is unclear how industries will be incentivized to continue paying this fee once the desal plants are built.

Say NO to Desal! Say NO to pollution! We deserve better!

TAKE ACTION NOW!