YouBet said:

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schmellba99 said:

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txags92 said:

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YouBet said:

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txags92 said:

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YouBet said:

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txags92 said:

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YouBet said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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YouBet said:

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knoxtom said:

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YouBet said:

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My question on this is why industry hasn't gotten the federal government involved. 50% of the oil exported from the USA to other countries comes out of Corpus. That's kind of a big deal.

Maybe that can be diverted elsewhere easily when industry takes a 25% cut of their water here in a few months and then more than that when this isn't solved? I don't know.

I know Trump made a comment about helping Corpus when he was here last week but who knows what that means, if anything. Regardless, any solution is going to take years to implement.

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You think Trump is going to help Corpus at the expense of Austin, San Antonio, Exxon, and the fracking giants of the permian?

There is no diversion that can happen. Texas made its choice and that choice was for industry and profit. Corpus also made its choice. Can you honestly look at Corpus and say they do anything for the residents? It is a profit driven, O&G based City in which they have abandoned every other interest EXCEPT the petrochemical lobby. From the history of Hillcrest through today, what about Corpus Christi says they will ever divert from industrial interests to things like drinking water?

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I've only lived in the area full-time for 2.5 years. I have little history with Corpus and how they operate. All I know is what's happening right now sucks and is why we are leaving.

My comment on diversion was the 50% of oil that currently leaves the Port of Corpus Christi. Who picks that up and how and when if industry here implodes due to no water?

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It doesn't and the ME is gonna be down for a bit…

The next six months are going to be uber spicy…which electorally will make things worse for POTUS.

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Well, this is a bigger f'ing disaster than I thought. This will definitely be national news.

Also, from the Texas Tribune article this jumped out at me because it's 180 different from what Corpus City Council proclaimed months ago which was that industry would have to take a 25% cut in water supply. This article says industry is exempt from that.

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The region's largest industrial users, which collectively consume the majority of the region's water, remain exempt from emergency curtailment.

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Industrial users have paid a surcharge in the past to be exempt from lower levels of water use restrictions, but my understanding is that they are not exempt from restrictions in "emergencyl situations. The surcharges paid were never enough to pay for additional sources to be developed and Corpus has done a poor job of distributing costs for new development to those who are causing the new higher demands.

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Well, then someone is lying or wrong because the city has said they are not exempt while the Texas Tribune says twice in their article that they are.

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I haven't read the language in the surcharge deals or their drought contingency plans, so it may be that under the current deals they are exempt, which would make the Tribunes reporting accurate. But the city may also have the power to revoke those exemptions in emergency situations, which would mean the city's claims are accurate as well.

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Sounds like we are going to find out IRL.

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Never underestimate the power of CC government to F things up. If there is a way, they will find it.

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The water industry is my world, and knowing a whole lot of the backstory on this as well as a lot of other information - this cannot be overstated enough. It is the single biggest root cause of the issue.

Also - there are 2 desal plants slated to be built. One is on the ship channel and that one will supply almost exclusively the industrial complext. The other was on the bay, but backroom politics, stupid politics and a whole lot of people that read something on the internet and think it is true killed it.

Now there is another that will be built on Harbor Island by Nueces River Authority. That one will supply a lot of Corpus, discharge brine about 20 miles out in the gulf and eventually pump water all the way up to north of San Antonio. It will also cost multiple billions of dollars.

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So, there are now 3 desal plants planned? Interesting. First I've heard of this. Man, the reporting is poor on this. To summarize then:

Desal Plant 1 - on ship channel for industry
Desal Plant 2 - on bay for residential; current vote to approve is one that got kicked to next month and has been all of the controversy
Desal Plant 3 - on Harbor Island; also for CRP residents

What are the timelines for 1 and 3? I know timeline for 2 is 4-5 years, I'm guessing.

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There are actually 5 public seawater desal plants around the Corpus area in various stages of planning and/or permitting.

1. City of CC Inner Harbor Plant - The one that was shut down in design phase last year, but is now back with a new design firm on board. Fully permitted and funding received from TWDB.

2. Port of CC La Quinta Channel - Permit applications submitted, but I don't know the status. Heavily opposed by environmental groups due to plans to discharge brine to the bay.

3. City of CC La Quinta Channel - Water rights permit received, but still need others. San Patricio has asked City of CC to let them be the lead over fears of the project getting shut down for political reasons like the Inner Harbor project did.

4. Nueces River Authority Harbor Island - USACE construction permit received. Discharge of brine planned for ~3 miles offshore.

5. City of CC/CPS Barney Davis - City has entered an agreement with CPS to explore constructing a desal plant at the CPS Barney Davis power plant. No design or permitting completed yet.

There is also a private facility in the works at CC Polymers owned by Aquatech that is in negotiations to sell water to the city. It has its intake and discharge permits from TCEQ and is probably the most likely to get completed quickly due to the lack of public entity involvement.

That doesn't include the brackish groundwater desal plants that either are or were being considered. Of the 5 public plants, the City of CC's Inner Harbor plant and the Port of CC's La Quinta Channel plants are the furthest along in the permitting process, but neither has started construction and they are likely to get challenged in court before they can. NRA's Harbor Island Plant is probably the least objectionable due to the plans for off-shore discharge of the brine. And CC Polymers is the least complicated with no public entities involved.

YouBet said:

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schmellba99 said:

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txags92 said:

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YouBet said:

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txags92 said:

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YouBet said:

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txags92 said:

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YouBet said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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YouBet said:

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knoxtom said:

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YouBet said:

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My question on this is why industry hasn't gotten the federal government involved. 50% of the oil exported from the USA to other countries comes out of Corpus. That's kind of a big deal.

Maybe that can be diverted elsewhere easily when industry takes a 25% cut of their water here in a few months and then more than that when this isn't solved? I don't know.

I know Trump made a comment about helping Corpus when he was here last week but who knows what that means, if anything. Regardless, any solution is going to take years to implement.

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You think Trump is going to help Corpus at the expense of Austin, San Antonio, Exxon, and the fracking giants of the permian?

There is no diversion that can happen. Texas made its choice and that choice was for industry and profit. Corpus also made its choice. Can you honestly look at Corpus and say they do anything for the residents? It is a profit driven, O&G based City in which they have abandoned every other interest EXCEPT the petrochemical lobby. From the history of Hillcrest through today, what about Corpus Christi says they will ever divert from industrial interests to things like drinking water?

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I've only lived in the area full-time for 2.5 years. I have little history with Corpus and how they operate. All I know is what's happening right now sucks and is why we are leaving.

My comment on diversion was the 50% of oil that currently leaves the Port of Corpus Christi. Who picks that up and how and when if industry here implodes due to no water?

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It doesn't and the ME is gonna be down for a bit…

The next six months are going to be uber spicy…which electorally will make things worse for POTUS.

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Well, this is a bigger f'ing disaster than I thought. This will definitely be national news.

Also, from the Texas Tribune article this jumped out at me because it's 180 different from what Corpus City Council proclaimed months ago which was that industry would have to take a 25% cut in water supply. This article says industry is exempt from that.

Quote:

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The region's largest industrial users, which collectively consume the majority of the region's water, remain exempt from emergency curtailment.

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Industrial users have paid a surcharge in the past to be exempt from lower levels of water use restrictions, but my understanding is that they are not exempt from restrictions in "emergencyl situations. The surcharges paid were never enough to pay for additional sources to be developed and Corpus has done a poor job of distributing costs for new development to those who are causing the new higher demands.

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Well, then someone is lying or wrong because the city has said they are not exempt while the Texas Tribune says twice in their article that they are.

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I haven't read the language in the surcharge deals or their drought contingency plans, so it may be that under the current deals they are exempt, which would make the Tribunes reporting accurate. But the city may also have the power to revoke those exemptions in emergency situations, which would mean the city's claims are accurate as well.

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Sounds like we are going to find out IRL.

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Never underestimate the power of CC government to F things up. If there is a way, they will find it.

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The water industry is my world, and knowing a whole lot of the backstory on this as well as a lot of other information - this cannot be overstated enough. It is the single biggest root cause of the issue.

Also - there are 2 desal plants slated to be built. One is on the ship channel and that one will supply almost exclusively the industrial complext. The other was on the bay, but backroom politics, stupid politics and a whole lot of people that read something on the internet and think it is true killed it.

Now there is another that will be built on Harbor Island by Nueces River Authority. That one will supply a lot of Corpus, discharge brine about 20 miles out in the gulf and eventually pump water all the way up to north of San Antonio. It will also cost multiple billions of dollars.

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So, there are now 3 desal plants planned? Interesting. First I've heard of this. Man, the reporting is poor on this. To summarize then:

Desal Plant 1 - on ship channel for industry
Desal Plant 2 - on bay for residential; current vote to approve is one that got kicked to next month and has been all of the controversy
Desal Plant 3 - on Harbor Island; also for CRP residents

What are the timelines for 1 and 3? I know timeline for 2 is 4-5 years, I'm guessing.

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I have my doubts as to whether or not Desal Plant 2 ever actually goes into construction. That is the one that started off at about $700MM but balooned into a $1.5B boondoggle that Kiewit noped right out the door on.

All of them are several years before any production would begin. 1 and 2 have, IIRC, all of the required permitting out of the way.

There is also a smaller desal in Alice that everybody threw a hissy fit over because they wanted to discharge into San Fernando Creek, which eventually mouths into Baffin Bay. Baffin is a hypersaline bay and the discharge water would be saline, but less saline than Baffin. But no amount of logic or proving that there would be zero measurable change or pointing out that Baffin naturally has fluctuations in salininty that often brings it down to near zero ppm can change the mind when the sky is falling crowd gets a foothold. So instead that plant is deep well injecting the brine, which costs more. Which people complain about.

I am pretty sure that the CC La Quinta Channel plant is off the books. CC pulled out of it and was leaning on the Inner Harbor plant along with the Harbor Island plant. I *think* that is the latest and greatest overall plan.

Who knows though. CC will find a way to fubar it up, they have a history of doing so on the desal front.

schmellba99 said:

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I am pretty sure that the CC La Quinta Channel plant is off the books. CC pulled out of it and was leaning on the Inner Harbor plant along with the Harbor Island plant. I *think* that is the latest and greatest overall plan.

Who knows though. CC will find a way to fubar it up, they have a history of doing so on the desal front.

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Now now friend... You're not giving Corpus enough credit.

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CC will find a way to fubar it up, they have a history of doing so on EVERY front

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schmellba99 said:

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I am pretty sure that the CC La Quinta Channel plant is off the books. CC pulled out of it and was leaning on the Inner Harbor plant along with the Harbor Island plant. I *think* that is the latest and greatest overall plan.

Who knows though. CC will find a way to fubar it up, they have a history of doing so on the desal front.

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Both the City and Port LaQuinta Channel projects are still in the 2026 Regional Water Plan that jwas adopted in January 2026. The city prioritized the Inner Harbor facility for their own timing and funding, but San Patricio Municipal Water is still trying to get CC to transfer the permits on the La Quinta Channel project to them so they can keep it moving forward regardless of what happens in CC politics. The Port's La Quinta Channel project appears to be ahead of the City/SPMW project in terms of permitting though.

txags92 said:

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Never underestimate the power of CC government to F things up. If there is a way, they will find it.

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The competence and general functionality of a city government are inversely proportional to the number of personal injury attorney billboards around said city.

Any of this rain going to help Lake CC or Choke Canyon?

Broseph said:

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Any of this rain going to help Lake CC or Choke Canyon?

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Spoke to my brother who lives on Lake CC. They were only getting "some" rain this week. Not like what we got here in SA. Said the lake all the way out to the middle's deepest parts is nothing but tall weeds.

Broseph said:

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Any of this rain going to help Lake CC or Choke Canyon?

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No.

Broseph said:

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Any of this rain going to help Lake CC or Choke Canyon?

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Not even putting a trickle into the rivers.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Broseph said:

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Any of this rain going to help Lake CC or Choke Canyon?

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Not even putting a trickle into the rivers.

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*****..

I rained right on top of them a few days ago...

Ag with kids said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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Broseph said:

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Any of this rain going to help Lake CC or Choke Canyon?

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Not even putting a trickle into the rivers.

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*****..

I rained right on top of them a few days ago...

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I'll do my part and rain on them next weekend.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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Brush Country Ag said:

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Just being silly here….why could they not buy a couple of oil tankers, fill them with water rather than oil, and bring them in to Corpus ? How many per day or week would Corpus area need to satisfy requirements? Would that be cheaper than the pipeline? Could always reconfigure to carry oil after drought breaks !

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In February 2026, the City of Corpus Christi used 2,750,000,000 gallons of raw water.

Lets assume crude oil is 7.0 lbs per gallon (average is 6.5 to 8.5).
Water weighs 8.3

VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) can carry 2 million barrels or 84,000,000 gallons.
Doing the math that would be roughly 70,843,373 gallons for an equivalent weight of water. Obviously if you completely fill the ships oil tanks with water... bad things happen.

That IS a lot of water. But you'd need 39 of them for February alone. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of Corpus' water already comes from the Mary Rhodes pipeline; Phase I moves water from Lake Texana and Phase II moves water from the Colorado River in Garwood.

Edit for an extra zero typo mentioned below. The math still looks correct.

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Further comment....
in 2017 Oxy tested getting a VLCC into their Ingleside Energy Center. Even at -47ft Mean Lower Low Water they can only partially ballast the vessel and a smaller tanker must then accompany the ship offshore into complete the loading.

Fully laden she drafts 66 feet, a full 19ft greater than the channel depth at Ingleside. Keep in mind this is JUST Ingleside which is just inside the jetties at Port Aransas and on the East side of the bay. I'm not sure where the project to deepen the channel to 54' stands, but it was in progress and was part and parcel with the completion of the taller Harbor Bridge.

I don't have time to figure out a VLCC's fresh water capacity at 47ft and 54 ft draft. But understandably it makes the numbers even less favorable.

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I think your numbers are good but Ingleside is about halfway in to the port, not just inside the jetties.

"But no amount of logic or proving that there would be zero measurable change or pointing out that Baffin naturally has fluctuations in salininty that often brings it down to near zero ppm can change the mind when the sky is falling crowd gets a foothold."

This is exactly what happened with the groundwater plans.

Lola68 said:

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"But no amount of logic or proving that there would be zero measurable change or pointing out that Baffin naturally has fluctuations in salininty that often brings it down to near zero ppm can change the mind when the sky is falling crowd gets a foothold."

This is exactly what happened with the groundwater plans.

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What are you referring to?

I'm referring to all of the protests to the selling of groundwater to Corpus. There was unsubstantiated allegations made by the proponents of dsal that has been picked up by the surrounding towns (Sinton) that somehow Corpus' use of groundwater would harm other users. This is not what the actual evidence suggests.

Is this the source for all of the Evangeline aquifer stuff I've seen floating around social media starting within the past week or so from my Coastal Bend area acquaitnences?

Yes

Lola68 said:

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I'm referring to all of the protests to the selling of groundwater to Corpus. There was unsubstantiated allegations made by the proponents of dsal that has been picked up by the surrounding towns (Sinton) that somehow Corpus' use of groundwater would harm other users. This is not what the actual evidence suggests.

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Ehh, it depends on what you call harm, the volume of water, etc.

Subsidence is a real thing, and along the coast when the land subsides it doesn't come back up. We don't have rock formations that support the land like the hill country does, so when the aquifer is drawn down the land actually sinks and once that happens, it's a done deal.

Now, the speed of the subsidence can be controlled if the aquifer isn't pumped faster than it can recharge. You can also end up with a subsidence district, which is just another level of government to deal with.

I think Houston is the fastest sinking city right now. Keep in mind that is a relative term. I can tell you that it is a real problem in the Phoenix region. Luke AFB has sank over 20 feet since it first started operations back in the early 1900's. That's a lot.

As per Texas Lake Levels, Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi are down 41.93 ft. and 19.0 ft., respectively

https://www.lakelevels.info/USA/Texas/

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Lake Name Current Level Full Pool Full Pool +/- Reading Date - Time
Choke Canyon (TX) 178.57 220.50 -41.93 4/23/2026 5:00 AM
Corpus Christi (TX) 75.00 94.00 -19.00 4/23/2026 10:05 AM

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WolfCall said:

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As per Texas Lake Levels, Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi are down 41.93 ft. and 19.0 ft., respectively

https://www.lakelevels.info/USA/Texas/

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Lake Name Current Level Full Pool Full Pool +/- Reading Date - Time
Choke Canyon (TX) 178.57 220.50 -41.93 4/23/2026 5:00 AM
Corpus Christi (TX) 75.00 94.00 -19.00 4/23/2026 10:05 AM

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How does one interpret this? These numbers don't look terrible. Full pool means optimal fill, I assume? So, Corpus is actually at 80% based on these numbers?

However, we are told that both lakes are down to 8% capacity which doesn't remotely match up to these numbers, but I also don't understand what I'm looking at.

I believe your math is if the lake has no grading. The top layer is going to have the most area. This website is easier to see how bad it is: https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/corpus-christi

Z3phyr said:

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I believe your math is if the lake has no grading. The top layer is going to have the most area. This website is easier to see how bad it is: https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/corpus-christi

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Thanks. Interpreting this to mean a loss of ~20 more feet and you are at dead pool. Dead pool is 55.50 feet.

Conservation Pool is 94 feet which I assume means a minimum level for "sustainability".

Guessing based on context though.

those #s represent elevation. so for Lake CC, 94 ft - 75ft = 19 ft low. Dead pool (empty) for Lake CC is 55 ft.

But because of the contours of the lake, it holds way less volume as it goes down. You really need to look at the acre/ft of storage to get the %

Right now it is holding 22,800 ac-ft. When its full it holds 256,000

so hoping for a minor hurricane basically

Thanks. So I partially got there.

YouBet said:

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Z3phyr said:

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I believe your math is if the lake has no grading. The top layer is going to have the most area. This website is easier to see how bad it is: https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/corpus-christi

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Thanks. Interpreting this to mean a loss of ~20 more feet and you are at dead pool. Dead pool is 55.50 feet.

Conservation Pool is 94 feet which I assume means a minimum level for "sustainability".

Guessing based on context though.

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Meh...

My Dad's lake is down 87 feet. It's 3.9% full.

There is no lake that is worse in TX...

Medina Lake Canyon...

UAS Ag said:

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YouBet said:

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Z3phyr said:

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I believe your math is if the lake has no grading. The top layer is going to have the most area. This website is easier to see how bad it is: https://waterdatafortexas.org/reservoirs/individual/corpus-christi

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Thanks. Interpreting this to mean a loss of ~20 more feet and you are at dead pool. Dead pool is 55.50 feet.

Conservation Pool is 94 feet which I assume means a minimum level for "sustainability".

Guessing based on context though.

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Meh...

My Dad's lake is down 87 feet. It's 3.9% full.

There is no lake that is worse in TX...

Medina Lake Canyon...

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And it's drainage basin is pretty damn small too.

Corpus seems to have many issues at the moment.

Interesting short video on a pilot desal plant being operated in Port Isabel. They are mixing the brine effluent with wastewater discharge to dilute it before discharging to the Port Isabel channel.

I'm going to assume cities and counties in no way would allow this, but couldn't you have your own home desal plant if you lived on water? The tech exists for small scale ops, right?

YouBet said:

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I'm going to assume cities and counties in no way would allow this, but couldn't you have your own home desal plant if you lived on water? The tech exists for small scale ops, right?

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Sure, hypothetically, there is no real impossible barrier to it. They have RO desal systems that are used on sailboats and yachts all the time to make fresh water. You would have to either get a TCEQ discharge permit for the brine you want to discharge or get permission from a POTW to send it down a sanitary sewer. You might also need tertiary treatment besides the desal depending on what your water source is (bay/seawater, brackish well water, etc.) to address other contaminants. But other than cost, it is all doable at some level and there are no legal barriers to having your own.

This Israeli company is going to build one somewhere in the RGV also. (Presumably, if it's desalinization near Corpus.)

An Israeli company will build a desalination plant in Texas to provide clean and cheap water to Texas residents.

It uses leading Israeli technology to convert sea water to drinkable water. pic.twitter.com/t0WMdFPqwH

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 25, 2026

nortex97 said:

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This Israeli company is going to build one somewhere in the RGV also. (Presumably, if it's desalinization near Corpus.)

An Israeli company will build a desalination plant in Texas to provide clean and cheap water to Texas residents.

It uses leading Israeli technology to convert sea water to drinkable water. pic.twitter.com/t0WMdFPqwH

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 25, 2026

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I saw the city manager of Corpus last night talking about how this has been an issue they've been working on for years now, not wanting to affect the industry (I take it, "the companies are giving the city and state money") side of things while trying to make sure locals weren't affected.

There were people in Corpus whom they interviewed, one who was talking about not wanting to have to deal with water restrictions that they didn't cause. She said they were told that only being able to bathe every other day might be required. That's bizarre.

It makes one wonder if the people who brought the ExxonMobil and SABIC joint venture for Abbott to approve didn't do their due diligence to make sure the water needs wouldn't be a problem. That, or even if they did bring up the potential problems, it was far in the future and the money was more immediate and more important.