this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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Corpus Christi, still in need of long-term water sources, again rejects desalination plant (www.texastribune.org)
submitted 2 days ago by Fossy@programming.dev to c/texas@lemmy.world
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[–] WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

The proposed desalination plant was intended to provide a drought-proof source of drinking water, but opponents questioned its high cost and the environmental impact of its salty discharge on Corpus Christi Bay.

I'm not the most knowledgeable in this stuff, but that last bit seems a surprisingly forward-thinking mindset to me. Is it a legitimate concern, and if so what can be done about it?

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Corpus is screwed because they sold all their drinking water to industry on the cheap. Without desalination they will have to import drinking water from somewhere else at great expense, if anyone is going to remain living there. Even then, the industries will probably demand the desalination plant one way or the other. They’re just kicking the can down the road. It’s not like these people actually care about pollution. If they did, they wouldn’t have invited in all these companies to take their water. And they wouldn’t be floating the idea of buying desalinated water from someone else instead of just building their own plant.

https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2026-07-13/corpus-christi-tx-water-valero-subsidy-rates-industry-energy-utilities

https://apnews.com/article/corpus-christie-water-emergency-190d7c58c9d9dbf728a41881b9370939

[–] Einskjaldi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

It's a point pollution issue, it is saltier than normal brine and can be bad for the fish and plants and dolphins in the inner bay. You can just make a longer pipe and spread it out more but that costs more money.

[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

What's really bewildering is that the five council members who voted it down, the so-called Gang of Five, are the most conservative openly corrupt in the pockets of oil industry members of the council. So I'm not entirely sure why they're against it.