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Corpus Christi: Town Is an Energy Powerhouse. It’s Running Out of Water
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:02 am
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:02 am
quote:
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—South Texas lured Tesla, along with Exxon Mobil and other energy behemoths, with the promise of land, cheap energy and, perhaps most critically, abundant water.
The companies spent billions of dollars over the past two decades building plants that use huge amounts of water to transform fossil fuels into gasoline, jet fuel and other refined products. More set up shop in recent years to refine lithium for electric-vehicle batteries and crank out plastic pellets. All were drawn to the region by its juicy tax deals, deep-water Gulf Coast port and latticework of pipelines that ferry cheap natural gas and crude oil.
Now, Corpus Christi, the region’s main water provider, says it is tapped out.
A crippling drought is depleting its reservoirs, and the city expects it won’t be able to meet the area’s water demand in as soon as 18 months. In addition to industrial users, the water utility serves more than 500,000 people in seven counties.
LINK
This post was edited on 10/13/25 at 8:39 am
28
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:09 am to ragincajun03
The downside of no hurricanes.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:09 am to ragincajun03
I was consulting with a company that was looking into a HUGE Green Hydrogen project around CC....like $20BB huge. The amount of water needed is what ultimately killed it.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:09 am to Dixie2023
I'm sure some are making that argument. Of course that would then provide another set of problems to the Corpus area.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:15 am to ragincajun03
Sounds like they need to start seeding them clouds.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:18 am to ragincajun03
Will we ever embrace desalination plants?
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:19 am to ragincajun03
Desalination technology seems like an area ripe for development.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:19 am to ragincajun03
Is it impossible for them to desalinate water pumped in from the fricking Gulf that the city is literally built alongside?
Wouldn’t it be worth the investment for the companies to build a facility that can do that?
Wouldn’t it be worth the investment for the companies to build a facility that can do that?
This post was edited on 10/13/25 at 8:20 am
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:21 am to alajones
Lots of research being done on it, and small scale projects. I think getting the water to the necessary specs is still EXTREMELY expensive.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:22 am to ragincajun03
Too bad there isn’t a nearby water, oh wait, what are they doing with the Gulf Of America?
Hint: Desalination is the process of removing dissolved salts and impurities from ocean water to make it drinkable and usable for agriculture. The two main desalination techniques are thermal and membrane-based.
Did you know Exxon Refinery in Baton Rouge removes Mississippi River water and uses it in their refinery operations?
Hint: Desalination is the process of removing dissolved salts and impurities from ocean water to make it drinkable and usable for agriculture. The two main desalination techniques are thermal and membrane-based.
Did you know Exxon Refinery in Baton Rouge removes Mississippi River water and uses it in their refinery operations?
This post was edited on 10/13/25 at 8:23 am
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:24 am to LSUDad
Thanks Dad
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:25 am to alajones
quote:
Will we ever embrace desalination plants?
Reducing mineral content to the point that industry wants to use it is (relatively) very expensive. For context, think how hard industry in Baton Rouge fights to keep access to our aquifer water instead of fresh river water. Further, getting rid of the waste sludge produced is a giant pain in the arse.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:34 am to LSUDad
quote:
Did you know Exxon Refinery in Baton Rouge removes Mississippi River water and uses it in their refinery operations?
Oddly enough, I did.
But the salt content of GOA water is much higher. Not saying that shouldn't be the ultimate goal, and from the article it sounds like Corpus is working on that as well, but I think getting it to the scale needed still carries a price tag that scares the bejezzus out of people.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:36 am to ragincajun03
I'm somewhat involved in this situation. There are ways to do desalination responsibly, but of course they are more expensive so no one wants to pay to do it the right way. Until they decide to pipe in the water from offshore and discharge the brine several miles offshore they will never get the first piece of dirt moved for a plant. All of their plans (at least 5 of them now) to date would have the de-sal plants dumping anywhere from 35 to 50 million gallons of brine discharge into the local bays, that is a non starter for a lot of influential folks. Environmental tourism is a multi billion dollar industry annually along that part of the coast, killing it off to feed the plants water is a non starter.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:38 am to Joshjrn
quote:
getting rid of the waste sludge produced is a giant pain in the arse.
Why can’t we just put it on a badge and dump that silt into the marsh to build up the swamps?
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:40 am to Suntiger
quote:
Why can’t we just put it on a badge and dump that silt into the marsh to build up the swamps?
Because the sludge is, as one would imagine, hyper saline. It will absolutely murder (practically) any organism it comes into contact with, including “salt water” sea life.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:43 am to alajones
quote:
Will we ever embrace desalination plants?
If anything ever should be funded as far as research it would be this process. Would be very helpful not only here in the United States but across the globe.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:44 am to ragincajun03
Can someone help me understand why energy plants need so much water. Is it simply for cooling during a specific stage in the process?
This post was edited on 10/13/25 at 8:45 am
Posted on 10/13/25 at 8:46 am to bad93ex
quote:
If anything ever should be funded as far as research it would be this process.
No way, dude.
It's much more important to study the homosexual tendencies of tadpoles and making sure Iraq has access to Sesame Street episodes.
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