Corpusfishing.com

[reallifetexan]

I read that the proposed desal plant is approved by TCEQ and is moving forward on Harbor Island near Port Aransas. Apparently the plans call for an outflow pipe to discharge the salty brine 300 ft into the Corpus Christi ship channel, directly south of Harbor Island. Am wondering what the experts on this board think about that. It's obviously better than having an outflow into the Laguna Madre, but is this still expected to negatively affect the surrounding bays, i.e. Corpus Christi bay and Aransas bay? Not trying to open up a can of worms, but would just like to get better educated from some of the learned experts here.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Unless something has come up very recently, the Harbor Island desal plant is still in limbo between the Port and the EPA (via TCEQ). But what you described is correct, the intake will come from offshore, and the discharge will be 'essentially' on the Brown&Root side, across from the Ferry landing. It will be 60 feet or so below MSL, jetted upward to maximize mixing with the tides going back and forth in the channel. Not sure what the 300 ft number is, perhaps the distance from the shore?

Will it make a difference in the local bays? State agencies that are there to protect public resources fought hard against the current configuration, and even though knowing desal is going to happen, lets do it in the smartest way possible (NO brine discharge into any Bay, or within certain distances around the jettied passes). Oh well, TCEQ basically said "Thanks for your input".

The latest moves on discharge permits are for the City of CC desal location in the Inner Harbor. This couldn't be a worse location, as you've got the intake for desal located 100's of yards from the outflow of the same plant, all within a dead-end channel that's shaped like a big U, with little to no lateral circulation, and the only vertical circulation happens when a tanker goes by!!!

Did nobody learn nothing from the Brownsville Ship Channel Desal Demonstration Project. Is it feasible,...... technically Yes, but it's horrendously expensive and whatever pudding the City tries to feed you, the raw water costs will go from the $1.12 / thousand gallons residential service pays now, to $4.50-$10 / thousand gallons, AND Industrial users are not capped on usage - but let the Code Enforcement Nazis drive by your house and you have a sprinkler out.

Personally, I have not budgeted for my Water Bill to go up 4-10X's, but still it's YEARS away given how bureaucracy moves.