Desalination Plan Moves Forward

Hondo Anvil Herald ^ | 7/31/2025 | Rosanne Fohn

[decal]

Hondo and Lytle are one step closer to receiving desalinated drinking water in the future through an agreement between the Nueces River Authority and Port of Corpus Christi.

On Tuesday, July 15, the port agreed to lease 31 acres on Harbor Island to the NRA to build the desalination plant. Harbor Island is northwest, across the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, from Port Aransas, and east, across Redfish Bay, from Aransas Pass.

Intake and discharge pipes for the plant’s seawater will be positioned about 1.3 miles east of San Jose Island, in the deeper water of the Gulf of Mexico. This is expected to avoid harming aquatic life with the higher salinity discharge.

In recent months, the NRA has been working with municipal and industrial water users in South Texas, including Hondo and Lytle, to establish purchase agreements. As a result, 38 million gallons of the plant’s capacity of 100 million gallons a day has already been reserved.

[decal]

Hondo and Lytle are, respectively, west and southwest of San Antonio, and some 150 miles from the Gulf of America.

[Jane Long]

God bless Texas!

[SuperLuminal]

Wow!
Nice to hear that the NRA might finally accomplish something... /s

[immadashell]

You should be shot! 😆

[jerod]

Hey... Did you ever hear the one about Human’s running out of water? LOL

71% of the earths surface is covered in what??? Water

Humans do not need to mine the resources of any other planet... We have enough on earth to last us all until the inevitable.

[4Liberty]

Gulf of AMERICA!!

[iamgalt]

If the hopeless idiots who run CA spent all the money on this instead the climate BS there would no water shortages

[Victor]

The island of Aruba uses entirely desalinated seawater; the water is healthy and delicious.

An added benefit is that Aruba sells "sea salt" to the world...

[decal]

They won’t have any choice soon - they’ll have to go this route, and the longer they wait the more it’ll cost them.

[bosco24]

-plant’s capacity of 100 million gallons a day-

WOW! That is a lot of water.

[Organic Panic]

Like Milton Friedman said. “ if the government were to take over the Sahara there would be a shortage of sand in five years.”

California has old hulking power plants on the coast they could use but nope. That would work too well and Sacramento couldn’t play games with the hated farmers.

[GenXPolymath]

Israel largest desal plant is Sorek it makes 627,000 cubic meters of water per day. That’s 165,000,000 freedom units. So this plant is huge and should be the template for a half dozen more all along the coastline.

Hondo is 150 miles and 900 feet up with a medium to low per capita income. San Antonio is 132 miles and 450 feet to easy Bexar County and has a medium income level. Austin is 135 miles from port Lavaca and 450 feet up to east Travis county and has a high income per capita.

Point is if Hondo can afford to move water 150 miles and 900 feet up then both S.A. And Austin are more economically viable.

As JL Picard would say “Make it so”

Just do it tell the greens to piss off and build the dang things. Ask the Israelis for those 16” diameter membranes stacks that get them 53 cents per cubic meter delivered water. We sell water residential in 1000 freedom unit blocks converted to that 53 cents per cubic meter is $2 per 1000 that is less than half what water sells for in any one of those cities everyone is above $4 per 1000 then $6-8 more per 1000 for wastewater treatment costs.

It’s long past time for Texas to desal on a truly huge scale. Compared to Cali 130-150 miles pipe runs is childs play vs their aquaduct projects. Even Dallas is 4450 feet up and only 240 miles from Trinity Bay and unlimited desal water.

[GenXPolymath]

Grrr Dallas is 450 feet above MSL

The real question is why is S.A. , Austin and Dallas all 450 ish feet above sea level. Three words Austin Chalk Formation

[Republican Wildcat]

LOL - I was going to post something similar. “Didn’t know the NRA was involved in water supply issues.”

[GenXPolymath]

Cabo , Cabo San Lucas, and Porto Los Cabos all are desal as their primary water sources as are nearly all resorts along the coast between them. The local water supply is very limited being a desert and what little groundwater it’s salty as is. Last time in Jamaica the had signs in the bathrooms saying every drop was desal please remember to not waste water.

[texas booster]

Texas Ping, the Best State in the USA!

A ping out to the Texas Ping list, founded by Windflier.

Ask the Israelis for those 16” diameter membranes stacks that get them 53 cents per cubic meter delivered water.

It looks like the Nueces River Authority is hatching a plan to profit off desalination, before they are forced to do so. I wonder how deep the Gulf is 1.2 miles out?

Many thanks to GXP for his analysis.

Another special Texas summer edition for your perusal.

As always, please FReepmail me if you want on or off the Texas Ping list.

Blessings, and stay cool!

[djstex]

Thanks for the ping!

[bosco24]

-As JL Picard would say “Make it so”-

The world may be saved after all.

Make it so!

[GenXPolymath]

Looking at the NOAA chart for 1.5 miles off Port A directly away from Harbor Island looks to be 15 to 20 feet deep the Gulf is shallow across a wide continental shelf. Depth is not so important for dispersal of brine vs mixing velocity and flow rates. The you use multiple nozzles that entrain flow of the surrounding lower saline water and mix it under high velocity flow with 10 or more times the volume of the ejected brine by the time this now mixed stream slows down and further mixes any local sea life can swim through it with little effect. Texas has a pretty strong long shore current that will push the plume to the south and any density current would flow down slope properly mixed there shouldn’t be a density current.

[crusty old prospector]

Most of that is salt water.