A proposed Corpus Christi desalination plant has cleared its final permit hurdle, following approval to allow the offshore discharge of concentrated saltwater from the plant into the Gulf of America.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved the permit for the Port of Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
In development for nearly a decade, the Harbor Island Desalination plant could provide up to 100 million gallons of drinking water per day for industrial and municipal use.
The plant is intended to provide long-term water supply solutions for the area, as the city has experienced severe water shortages due to drought. As of March 2026, the city had been under Stage 3 water restrictions for over a year and was facing the possibility of declaring a Level 1 water emergency as early as May.
Summer rainfall improved its near-term outlook. In July, city officials pushed the projected date of a Level 1 water emergency from September 2027 to September 2028. The city moved to Stage 1 drought restrictions in late August for the first time since March 2024.
WorkBoat reported that the new permit will replace a smaller configuration for a 50-million-gallon-a-day nearshore plant that TCEQ issued a discharge permit for in 2022.
After applying for the offshore plant permit in 2025, the Port Commission voted to abandon the idea of the smaller nearshore plant once the offshore permit was approved, “finding that maintaining both was unnecessary and that the offshore discharge configuration was preferable.”
Port of Corpus Christi CEO Kent Britton said that the plant’s intake and discharge were moved offshore during the permitting process “in response to concerns about effects on the local bay system.”
Earlier this month, the Corpus Christi City Council voted against awarding a design-build contract for a separate desalination plant proposal called Inner Harbor. This followed a year-long division among council members on the project.
The city council was also briefed by John Byrum, executive director of the Nueces River Authority, on the Harbor Island Desalination Project.
When operational, the port will serve as “landlord” of the facility. The site is currently leased to the Nueces River Authority, which is working to advance the project with IDE Technologies.
No construction start date or projected opening date has been announced.
