No Desal

Corpus Christi City Council is in the process of deciding whether or not to build two baywater desalination plants on Corpus Christi Bay (not in the Gulf). If built, these desal plants would supply water to proposed heavy industrial plants mostly in San Patricio County. The water would not be for Corpus Christi residents, but they want Corpus Christi residents and small businesses to pay for much of it. 

The Port of Corpus Christi also wants to build two bay water desalination plants in Corpus Christi Bay. There has been no study of the impacts of multiple desal plants on the Bay.

Desal could put our City’s drinking water at risk if it were added to our water supply. Desalinated bay water would contain unregulated chemicals not found in freshwater. Those chemicals are not currently required to be monitored.

The salty wastewater would increase the risk of red tide and fish kills. Scientific studies show that locating desalination plants in Corpus Christi Bay would pose big environmental risks to the bay, its fish, other wildlife and plants. Our region depends on tourism relating to a healthy environment and our quality of life is in part due to the beautiful natural resources where we live.

The City of Corpus Christi told the State of Texas that desal would cost $1.3 billion dollars to build, operate, and maintain. Now, the city says they don’t know how much it will cost. They say it will increase water bills by $1.82 to $3.12 a month by 2028 but it could be much more. The City has already burdened residents with a $224 million loan!  We asked the Mayor and City Council to let the voters decide and they refused to allow Corpus Christi residents to vote on this massive debt that would increase water bills and threaten the drinking water system and environment.

Are you willing to trust the city with a project no other city has done in Texas when they can’t fix the roads and residents periodically get boil water notices? The EPA is suing the city for dumping sewage in our bays and the city even has problems running the downtown fountain park. The city must focus on basic, existing infrastructure needs starting with our drinking water system and city street repairs.

We have to protect our bay and our wallet from this $1.3 billion desal disaster.