'Forever chemicals' were found in the Inner Harbor. What does that mean for desalination?

The recent discovery of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” in the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor from which the city plans to draw water for its proposed desalination plant confirms longstanding fears about industrial pollution in the area.

While the city claims the plant’s reverse osmosis technology will remove most PFAS from drinking water, environmental advocates are alarmed by the lack of data to verify that claim, and concerned that the plant’s brine discharge will still contain PFAS and be released back into the bay in elevated concentrations.

Groups like Texas Campaign for the Environment and the local Sierra Club chapter are also concerned by the city’s reliance on internal models and dilution claims, especially when much of the environmental data is not being publicly disclosed. Advocates are calling for greater transparency, independent testing, and a pause on desalination until the public health risks are fully understood.

Read the full story by Kirsten Crow of the Caller Times.