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Message
re: Corpus Christi: Town Is an Energy Powerhouse. It’s Running Out of Water
Posted on 10/13/25 at 11:36 am to Joshjrn
Posted on 10/13/25 at 11:36 am to Joshjrn
quote:you know what else is expensive? Not haveing water to continun to run the plant.
Because it's expensive.
This is basically the answer to every question involving "why does industry do/not do XYZ" once you dig down deep enough.
Why won't plants in BR use the river water instead of the aquifer water? Why won't plants in CC use desalinated water? Why can't they safely get rid of the sludge? Why don't they used closed cooling loops? On down the line. The answer is "because it costs more than the way they are currently doing it".
And I don't mean that in any insulting way. One wouldn't expect a business to intentionally make their lives more difficult while simultaneously costing them more money.
But I speak from experience as someone who used to do the "hur dur just desalinate the water you idiots" bit, once you do a bit of reading, you realize that all of the "simple, common sense" solutions people propose typically aren't.
1
Posted on 10/13/25 at 11:38 am to CarRamrod
quote:
you know what else is expensive? Not haveing water to continun to run the plant.
That's considering a vastly, vastly longer timeline than corporations care about. And the timeline corporations care about is vastly, vastly longer than the timeline politicians care about.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 11:53 am to LSUDad
When I worked there, I was told ExxonMobil had wells which was the source of their water, not the river.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 11:56 am to ragincajun03
Meanwhile, Louisiana is here with an over-abundance to water but they refining in Corpus for the tax cut.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 11:59 am to Joshjrn
quote:
As for treating it, it would surprise me. Sodium chloride is a fairly simple compound. With that said, chemistry isn't my wheelhouse,
Your non-wheelhouse instincts are correct. First, turning those sodium and chlorine ions in the seawater into anything other than sodium chloride will require a lot of inputs where the only input needed to turn it into table salt is heat to evaporate the water. Most everything you can turn sodium and chlorine into is far worse environmentally than sodium chloride, they are two nasty elements due to their high reactivity. NaCl is a nice stable solid. The only economically feasible things to do with very high salinity water is to dilute it or evaporate it and deal with all the various salts remaining. Dilution is by far the least expensive.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:04 pm to ragincajun03
quote:
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.
Or it might start raining again in the next 18 months.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:09 pm to LSUDad
Pretty sure Exxon taps water from an aquifer.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:11 pm to ragincajun03
quote:
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.
If only there was a way to turn seawater into fresh water.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:14 pm to ragincajun03
quote:
Lots of research being done on it, and small scale projects. I think getting the water to the necessary specs is still EXTREMELY expensive.
Extremely expensive compared to utility water sources, absolutely
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:15 pm to ragincajun03
Is there a greedy AI Data Center nearby encroaching on the water supply?
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:28 pm to Obtuse1
Could the waste from a de-sal be injected? I suppose it would be an additional cost for transport as well but the sites are already available.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:33 pm to alajones
quote:
Will we ever embrace desalination plants?
Say goodbye to marine wildlife.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:37 pm to AllDayEveryDay
quote:
Could the waste from a de-sal be injected? I suppose it would be an additional cost for transport as well but the sites are already available.
It’s a scale issue. For every part fresh water you produce, you produce 1.5 parts brine sludge. According to a probably wrong Google AI result, CC uses about 100MM gallons of water per day. Which means you would have 150MM gallons of brine sludge to dispose of. Every day.
Now, that’s if they 100% rely on desal, but I think it puts the issue into context, especially when we remember that CC isn’t the only city facing these issues.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:48 pm to ragincajun03
Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:51 pm to Joshjrn
The latest plant they had on the drawing board would produce 35 to 50 gallons of brine per day. It also went from a 160 million price tag in 2019 when they started down the road to a current price tag of 1.2 billion, and that didn't include pipelines to carry the brine offshore.
This post was edited on 10/13/25 at 12:56 pm
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:53 pm to TxWadingFool
quote:
The latest plant they had on the drawing board would produce 35 to 50 gallons of brine per day.
That sounds like a pipe dream unless they aren’t desalinating enough to matter. Not that I’m saying you’re lying, obviously, but do you have a link? I would be curious to read their white paper.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:57 pm to ragincajun03
Build more reservoirs. Fast track this. Do something to make it rain. I don't know what that is. If that proves difficult, get water from Louisiana.
It is a problem that is not going away. And there will be a Texas in fifty, a hundred, two hundred and five hundred years. The population will be larger and need water. Get it figured out.
It is a problem that is not going away. And there will be a Texas in fifty, a hundred, two hundred and five hundred years. The population will be larger and need water. Get it figured out.
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:57 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
I don't care. Find out what Israel is doing with theirs
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:58 pm to ragincajun03
quote:
Now, Corpus Christi, the region’s main water provider, says it is tapped out.
Then whats all that blue stuff on the map?
Posted on 10/13/25 at 12:59 pm to YouKnowImRight
You're missing the point. Converting heat loads to closed-loop cooling is entirely a money problem. You can fix it with money, and that's just about the only real negative impact of it.
Dealing with a bazillion gallons of brine every day is a different issue entirely.
Dealing with a bazillion gallons of brine every day is a different issue entirely.
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