Corpus Christi became the first city in the state to receive financial aid in building a seawater desalination plant. The Texas Water Development Board awarded $2.75 million to the city for plant site selection, source water characterization and modeling of costs and economic impact.
This isn’t the first encouraging move by the state to promote cleaning seawater for public use. The Texas Legislature approved a bill in 2015 that would allow industrial use of desalinated water. Soon after that bill passed, the state included desalination in new water plan, calling for production of 116,000 acre-feet of treated saltwater per year by 2070.
Texas has 367 miles of coastline along the Gulf of Mexico with Corpus Christi nestled on its southern shores. The city was one of the first in the state involved in a seawater desalination feasibility study conducted in 2002.