Nueces River Authority is continuing to pursue desal plans. Here’s what could lie ahead

• The Nueces River Authority is seeking water reservation commitments from South Texas municipalities for a potential desalination plant on Harbor Island.
• The Port of Corpus Christi is pursuing permits for the plant but would not own or operate it.
• The river authority aims to secure state funding to expand the plant’s capacity to 450 million gallons of water per day.
• If approved, the plant could be operational by 2029.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

The Nueces River Authority is moving forward with plans to collect water reservation commitments from South Texas municipalities for water produced by a potential desalination plant on Harbor Island. 

Interested municipalities would need to pay a reservation fee, though there’s a long road ahead for the river authority before it will know if it will have any water to distribute. 

In addition to commitments from municipalities, the agency still needs to secure a lease from the Port of Corpus Christi to operate a seawater desalination plant and funding from the state of Texas to eventually expand the plant. Should it choose to work with the river authority, the port is also still in the process of securing the necessary state and federal permits for the planned facility. 

Both the Nueces River Authority and the Port of Corpus Christi were among the presenters during a Corpus Christi City Council water workshop Thursday. 

“Failure is not an option,” Nueces River Authority Executive Director John Byrum said after the workshop presentation. “We’ve got to get this built.” 

The port currently has a discharge permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a plant that would produce 50 million gallons of water per day, discharging into the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, though this permit is under appeal in a Travis County court. 

But the port has shifted focus to a larger facility that would discharge into the Gulf of Mexico, reacting to increased regional water demand projections. Changing the discharge location would also address one of the biggest concerns of opponents to desalination at the location — that discharging into the ship channel would harm marine life and bay ecology. 

The port has a pending permit application to intake 100 million gallons of water per day from the Gulf of Mexico.  

By the end of the month, it intends to submit a permit application to discharge offshore into the Gulf of Mexico. The potential discharge location would be 1.8 miles offshore of San Jose Island, according to the port’s presentation by Sarah Garza, port director of environmental planning and compliance. 

Both the increased intake and offshore discharge permit will need approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The port is also awaiting execution from the Texas General Land Office for authorization to place structures on state-owned submerged lands for offshore intake, as well as approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for permits to address potential temporary habitat impacts. 

Additionally, the port intends to submit an easement amendment application to the General Land Office for offshore discharge this year. 

Though the port is spearheading the permitting process, it does not intend to own or operate the desalination plant. Instead, either the city of Corpus Christi or a third party would construct, own and operate the plant, according to previous Caller-Times reporting. 

This is where the Nueces River Authority hopes to step in. The agency submitted an “unsolicited” proposal to the port in the fall, according to previous reporting, asking to be assigned the port’s permits upon approval. 

Negotiations on this proposal are ongoing. The river authority hopes to partner with a private company to design and build a desalination facility, Byrum said. 

The river authority has the authority to preserve, protect and develop surface water resources, according to the river authority’s website. It serves the 17,000 square miles that feed the Nueces River and its tributaries. 

The agency has been involved with the city and port on water planning in the past, including the Choke Canyon Reservoir project in the 1980s and the construction of the Mary Rhodes Pipeline from Lake Texana to Corpus Christi water facilities. 

The river authority was inspired by water shortage projections from the Texas Water Development Board to step into the desalination arena.  

“We saw that there was a need,” Byrum said. “We saw that there was a need beyond just the Coastal Bend.” 

How is the Nueces River Authority planning for a desalination plant?

If the plant is constructed, the river authority intends to send water produced on Harbor Island to municipalities across the South Texas region through the Interstate 37 corridor. 

Byrum expressed interest in offshore intake and discharge. 

Currently, the river authority is looking for municipal water providers willing to sign initial water reservation contracts at a price of $0.075 per thousand gallons of water. Water would be shared on a first-come, first-served basis, Byrum said. 

These contracts will allow the river authority to determine demand and what sort of conveyance system to take the water to users will be necessary, Byrum said.  

“Until they pay, you really don’t know that (they’re) buying in,” Byrum said. 

The actual water could potentially cost $12 per thousand gallons, but the river authority has not determined how much it might eventually charge, Byrum said. 

Building the plant and pipelines could cost $3.5 billion, Byrum said. 

Though the port’s current permit applications would only allow for 100 million gallons of water per day if approved, the river authority expects to eventually expand the desalination plant after the first few years to up to 450 million gallons of water per day. 

Byrum said the river authority is in discussions with state lawmakers to increase funding for water projects in the hopes that this funding could cover the cost of expanding the plant. 

This would need approval from the Texas Legislature, which is in regular session until June 2. If the funding is approved, it’s likely the river authority would need approval from the Texas Water Development Board to get a shot at the funding. 

Though many approvals are still needed before the Nueces River Authority’s Harbor Island plans might come to fruition, Byrum said he hopes the plant will be ready by 2029. 

“We’re wanting to move this thing along as fast as possible,” Byrum said. 

What about the city of Corpus Christi?

The city hasn’t excluded Harbor Island as a site for its own desalination plant, City Manager Peter Zanoni wrote in a message to the Caller-Times on Thursday, and it is likely city officials would seek first right of refusal on the property, as well as water purchase, but “more so on water.”

In the workshop, City Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn asked Port of Corpus Christi Chief Executive Officer Kent Britton whether the agency would give the city first right of refusal on water purchases.

Contractual arrangements would need to be made, he said, adding that several entities have requested protection of the city’s service area.

“If Nueces River Authority, for example, wants to sell water within the (certificate of convenience and necessity area), they’d have to sell it to the city,” Britton said. “And then the other is some sort of right of first refusal on that. That would obviously require an interest from the city in wanting to buy water. So we’re going to continue to have those discussions.”

Staff writer Kirsten Crow contributed to this story.

With a federal pause on grants, Port of Corpus Christi’s zero-emission goals lie in wait

Here’s how Del Mar College is eliminating tuition and fees for some full-time students

Home in Oso Bay neighborhood damaged by fire as dangerous conditions continue