NRA's desalination fund could run dry by August

The Nueces River Authority (NRA), the small state agency leading the proposed $6 to $7 billion Harbor Island seawater desalination project, may exhaust its desalination fund by the end of August, according to statements made at the agency's June 25 board meeting and internal records obtained by KRIS 6 News, which first reported the story July 1.

The revelations have already drawn scrutiny from Austin. In a July 2 letter to NRA Board President Eric Burnett, State Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, who reviewed the agency's bank statements himself, pressed the board for a full accounting of its finances and a contingency plan, warning that the agency's core mission "may have taken a backseat" to the pursuit of a single megaproject.

The Harbor Island project would draw seawater from the Gulf and pipe it as far as 200 miles inland to cities, water districts and industrial customers across South and Central Texas. If built, it would rank among the largest seawater desalination facilities in the country.

But design work on the pipeline has stopped. Lockwood, Andrews & Newnan, the engineering firm hired for the pipeline, completed its existing contract and has not received a new work order, company leaders confirmed.

Meanwhile, the fund meant to pay for the project is dwindling. "Conceivably, we're out of money at the end of August in desal," board member Dan Suckley said at the June meeting. Chief Financial Officer Robin Murray confirmed that assessment would hold true if anticipated payments fail to arrive.

Unlike most Texas governmental entities, the NRA cannot levy taxes and receives no guaranteed state or federal revenue; it earns income by operating small water systems and performing planning work under contract. Several of those revenue streams have recently ended or been frozen, including a McMullen County utilities contract, a watershed education contract worth more than $100,000, and a roughly $150,000 Texas Department of Agriculture colonia planning grant. Internal emails obtained by KRIS 6 show the agency's own CFO warned leadership that nearly every department was spending more than it took in.

To cover the gap, the agency has leaned on the one fund still holding cash: non-refundable reservation fees paid by 18 cities and water districts, about $4.1 million in total, to hold a place in line for future desalinated water. Those fees have been used to cover general operating costs, including most of Executive Director John Byrum's salary, according to statements Murray made to the board in May.

If the plant is never built, the cities do not get that money back.

The largest single commitment came from the City of Corpus Christi, which paid a $2.7 million non-refundable reservation fee in a lump sum. As the Current reported in April, former NRA Chief Operating Officer Travis Pruski alleged in his resignation that Byrum had presented inflated water sales figures to the NRA board and to the Corpus Christi City Council, claiming roughly 36 million gallons per day in committed sales when actual commitments stood closer to 21 million gallons per day, before the council approved that payment.

A board-commissioned investigation later found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing, but in the wake of the allegations the board adopted new oversight measures, including monthly meetings and required financial reports.

With annual renewal payments now coming due, NRA customers are hesitating. Three entities had been billed but had not paid as of the June meeting. Asked whether the money was coming, Deputy Director John Chisholm said of one, "possibly coming," and of the other two, "I don't think we know."

In Kyle, near Austin, where the city paid $270,000 after a 2025 presentation in which Pruski told council members the agency had "full backing of the state of Texas," Mayor Yvonne Flores-Cale said she will recommend against renewal. Governor Abbott's office told KRIS 6 that the "full backing" characterization did not come from the Governor's Office and that the state has made no formal financial commitment. Pruski said he presented official NRA materials in good faith at Byrum's direction.

Questions also surround the agency's claims of federal support. Byrum said in April that a $2.5 billion request had been made to President Trump and that a funding announcement was weeks away. When KRIS 6 contacted the White House, it could not confirm any request had been made or received. Byrum then said the Port of Corpus Christi had made the ask during the president's February visit. Port CEO Kent Britton said that is also inaccurate, stating no formal request tied to Harbor Island has ever been made by the port. Byrum could not confirm anything had been put in writing.

Byrum has said he is not worried, telling KRIS 6 the agency could borrow its way forward if the fund runs dry before new contracts arrive.

Sen. Hinojosa's letter asks the board to provide, among other items: a full-year cash flow projection (which Suckley has sought for more than a year without receiving), a written accounting of what funding requests have actually been submitted to state or federal officials and by whom, the agency's contingency plan if anticipated funding does not materialize, any early-termination exposure in its contracts, and the monthly financial reports the board began requiring in May.

Based on his review of eleven NRA bank accounts, Hinojosa wrote that the accounts flexible enough to cover operations could not sustain the agency's salary and recurring obligations "for more than a few months without new revenue coming in."