The Port of CC is seeking a water permit, #WQ0005254000, to allow for the construction of a seawater desalination facility on the La Quinta Channel, below Voestalpine. The facility is not intended to address current water demands. Its sole purpose is to attract new heavy industrial users, resulting in no net gain in the water supply. That additional heavy industry will, in turn, detrimentally affect the air and water quality of a fragile ecosystem and nearby communities.
The facility will require massive amounts of energy to operate, exacerbating air quality and greenhouse gas emissions; it will discharge 19.1 million gallons of high salt content water into the Channel each day. Unless dispersed properly, this plume of brine will sink to the bottom of the Channel, choking aquatic life and seagrasses.
Even if dispersed, the plume will increase the salinity levels. Designated as recreational and oyster waters with exceptional aquatic life, the bay is an Essential Fish Habitat that includes a number of EFH species including the red drum, groupers, and shrimp. The supply of freshwater is critical to maintaining the balance of water quality to sustain aquatic life and is currently monitored to assure proper freshwater inflow. The introduction of the high amounts of brine into the bay and estuary system will upset this delicate balance.
The location of the facility’s discharge is in the same area as current and proposed heavy industrial effluent discharges, some of which will enter the Channel at high temperatures. The combination of warm effluent, industrial waste, periods of red tide, and high saline content will severely impact aquatic life.
We understand the need for alternative sources of freshwater, such as seawater desalination, to supplement current uses. But this facility does nothing to alleviate current demand. It is designed solely as a marketing gimmick by the Port to increase heavy industry and the concomitant demand for more water. The location of any seawater desalination facility has to first consider where the brine will be discharged. Discharging 7 Billion gallons of brine annually into a narrow channel that is part of a partially closed bay and estuary system to attract heavy industry endangers the delicate ecosystems of the area.