POCCA Desal Plant

The Port of Corpus Christi Authority (PCCA) plans to build a baywater desalination plant on La Quinta Channel in order to attract future industrial customers to the Coastal Bend region.  IOBCWA opposes the Port's desalination facility on account of the devastation it would wreak on local fish and bird populations as a result of intake and discharge operations within the Channel.  

GREAT NEWS!!! TCEQ grants a Contested Case Hearing for IOBCWA and member Chon Serna re: the Port of Corpus Christi's Water Rights Permit related to a Desalination Plant on La Quinta Channel

CURRENT STATUS: 

PCCA Water Rights Permit #13630: July 20, 2022 TCEQ Grants IOBCWA's Contested Case Hearing Request (More Info below)
PCCA Discharge Permit # WQ0005254000: Under TCEQ Review

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More Information:

• 7/20/21 TCEQ grants IOBCWA standing to have a Contested Case Hearing (Meeting Agenda)
  a) TCEQ Executive Director assessment of 1) Affected Persons and 2) Issues
  b) TCEQ Office of Public Interest Counsel (OPIC) assessment
  c) IOBCWA Response 
• Public Notice of Public Meeting on 7/13/21
• Public Notice for Permit - posted 2/5/21
• Draft Water Rights Permit - issued 5/11/20 (3 pages)
• Application - submitted 8/29/19 (57 pages)
• Administratively Complete Packet - approved 5/11/20 (142 pages)
• Submit Comments Online for Permit "WRPERM 13630"
• Review Submitted Comments for TCEQ ID# "WRPERM 13630" (include all Correspondence)
• Visit CAPE's Desalination page for more information about ALL the proposed "baywater" desalination plants.

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Major Concerns about Intake

• Impingement (the trapping of organisms against intake screens by the velocity and force of water flowing through them)
• Entrainment (the passage of smaller organisms through the intake screen into the process equipment)
• Adverse environmental impacts as the result of associated construction activities, removal of habitat, and interference with aquatic travel patterns.
• Even if an animal is able to escape after contact with an intake structure, the 24-hour survival rate after such contacts is low.
• Species entrained into the desalination process encounter tremendous salinity gradients and pressures that cause significant damage or fatality to the animal.