On Thursday, July 19, there was public outcry from residents of Port A against the new water permit # WQ0005253000 sought by the Port to allow for the construction of a seawater desalination facility on Harbor Island.
In its typical condescending manner, Port executives told residents their concerns were “premature”, that people don’t “understand the seriousness of the coastal bend’s water issues”, and new concepts and new ideas are “uncomfortable” for some people. What residents are uncomfortable with are the decisions being made by the Port behind closed doors; decisions that adversely affect all of us; decisions that support the Port’s vision, not ours.
The facility will discharge 95.6 million gallons of wastewater per day into the ship channel. At that rate, 107,086 acre feet of contaminated salty brine discharge will flow into the channel. At its full capacity, Lake Corpus Christi holds 300,000 acre feet of water. Imagine a third of Lake Corpus Christi being dumped into the ship channel every year with high salt content; a brine plume that will choke aquatic life and seagrasses.
To provide any meaningful supply of fresh water, the facility will require an intake of seawater greater than that discharged, sucking aquatic organisms into the membranes and requiring massive amounts of energy to operate; exacerbating air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite the facility and its discharge is “spitting distance” from Aransas County, that county’s residents did not receive notice of the permit filing and will likely not receive the future notice of the issuance of any draft permit because TCEQ will take the position Aransas County is not “affected”.
Seawater desalination facilities of this size are built on the edge of open waters, such as those operated by Israel on the Mediterranean Sea and the Carlsbad facility in San Diego, or on open bay systems that have sufficient inflows of freshwater from rivers and tributaries and large open exchanges with the seas, such as the Tampa Bay facility.
We understand the water issues in the coastal bend. More importantly, we also know and understand what one citizen called the “ulterior motive not being disclosed”. The Port is not building this to increase our current ability to handle drought. It is being built to provide water to additional petrochemical plants being sought by the Port and the EDCs to be located in San Patricio County. Just like Exxon, each one requires 25 million gallons of water per day to operate. The Port acts like it is doing us all a favor when, in fact, it is merely increasing industrial demand and satisfying its needs; fulfilling its vision at the expense of the environment and our delicate ecosystem that we cherish.
Port A concerns are far from premature. If the permit is granted, construction can proceed with no further public input. Now is the time to fight, to demand action from local elected officials, look for responsible solutions to our water issues, and seek better control over the Port’s unrelenting attack on our lives.