CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city of Corpus Christi took a significant step toward securing another source of water.
It received a "draft discharge permit" for the inner harbor seawater desalination facility. Essentially giving the city the green light.
It's the second of two permits required before construction can commence on a desalination plant.
The TCEQ granted the water rights permit for the inner harbor in October 2022. So this week's draft permit indicates we're approaching the start of construction.
Corpus Christi City Councilman Roland Barrera said, "I'm in a part of this process since I've been on the council which, I'm in the start of my sixth year, and now that we're finally at this point where we're able to move forward with a permit, actually it's a draft permit. So it needs to be published and that way the public has any opportunity to make comments."
Barrera said it has taken years for the city to achieve a good water position, regardless of drought conditions.
"I think we're finally moving in a positive direction so that way we can insure that the public and the community has a uninterrupted source of water," he said.
Corpus Christi Water Resource Manager Esteban Ramos said the first permit was for water rights. This permit will allow the city to discharge brine through a process called jet diffusion to mix the removed salts with ocean water.
"This is the mixing. The ability of using the environment of the inner harbor, our location," he said. "And having better mixing with the ambient water that is there to get to get to a situation where we make sure working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that we have an environmentally responsible project."
Ramos said this will go a long way to providing that dependable water source to half a million customers in the Coastal Bend.
"After that public meeting, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality would put the application, the permit, in front of their commissioners for final approval," he said.
Ramos said that upon receiving final TCEQ approval, construction is expected to commence in the near future, potentially between 2026 and 2027.
The city began considering acquiring its own desalination facility as much as a decade ago.
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