Opinion: If desalination must proceed, Corpus Christi leaders should be held accountable
As published in the Corpus Christi Caller Times on May 23, 2025
As Corpus Christi faces a future characterized by drought, some city leaders have pinned their hopes on the proposed $757 million Inner Harbor seawater desalination plant. Before getting to the question of whether desalination is even necessary (spoiler alert: it’s not), if the project is to proceed, it can only earn the public’s trust if it proves itself on three fronts: scientific certainty of environmental safety, strict adherence to budget, and delivered performance as promised. The city officials and contractors behind the Inner Harbor desal plant should meet all of these conditions unequivocally – and safeguard taxpayers from financial responsibility if they fail to do so.
Nothing is more fundamental than protecting Corpus Christi Bay’s fragile ecosystem. The desalination plant’s brine discharge – water nearly twice as salty as the bay – would pour into the Inner Harbor and eventually the bay. Corpus Water leaders insist that tens of millions of gallons of wastewater per day will have “minimal effects” on the bay’s health, but some marine scientists strongly disagree, warning that the outfall could create suffocating “dead zones” that kill fish, shrimp and other aquatic life.
Indeed, the city’s analysis has been shockingly insufficient so far, only examining impacts within 400 feet of the discharge pipe. Before planning goes any further or construction begins, the city and its contractors must deliver a comprehensive hydrological model covering the entire bay system – and that model should be reviewed by independent scientists until the findings are unimpeachable. Our community deserves ironclad evidence, not just promises, that the Inner Harbor desal plant won’t result in ecological collapse. And, if down the line the bay is in fact compromised by the plant, the city must require the contractors – not taxpayers – to pay for the damage.
But evidence of environmental safety alone won’t satisfy the public’s concern – financial integrity is also key. The Inner Harbor desalination project comes with a whopping price tag, and we’ve been riding a years-long rollercoaster of shifting cost estimates. The final cost of the plant matters to every Corpus Christian, because eventually it will all come directly out of our pockets. Already, based on the current cost estimate, city staff has estimated that the average household water bill could spike 88% before 2030 to finance the plant. The more it goes up, the more we’ll all have to pay. If the plant is going to be built, the contractors must commit now to no further cost escalations – and if the project does exceed its budget, they should be contractually obligated to cover the difference.
Finally, if it’s going to be built, and residents are going to be forced to pay for it, the facility must perform exactly as promised in terms of output, reliability and water quality. For a project of this magnitude, performance bonds and warranty clauses are standard, and this should be no exception. Imagine buying an expensive new car, but with no warranty and no insurance. You wouldn’t do it, and neither should the city. If the plant breaks down often or otherwise underperforms, the builders should make it right.
All of this assumes that the Inner Harbor plant is even necessary to secure our community’s water future – an assumption that should be fundamentally rejected. Corpus Christi has more than enough water, even under drought conditions, to meet the current and projected needs of our residents and local businesses. The reality is that industrial users dominate water consumption in our region. In fact, between 2010 and 2020, industrial water demand in the Coastal Bend surged by nearly 70% while residential demand grew by less than 6%. So who is desalination really for? Plainly, it’s for big industry – but all the rest of us are on the hook to pay their freight, and to live with the devastating consequences if the Inner Harbor plant indeed wrecks our bay.
This is a moment of truth for Corpus Christi. While we know that desalination is for industry and not residents, if the city nevertheless moves ahead with the Inner Harbor plant – as it is poised to do – our elected officials and the contractors must stand behind the project with more than just words. We need data that proves, definitively, that the saltwater discharge won’t destroy our bay; no proof, no trust. We also need budget accountability; if costs continue to rise, we shouldn’t have to pay. Finally, the plant must work as promised; if it doesn’t, the contractor – not us – should be on the hook. The smartest, safest plan is simple: don’t build it at all. But if the city charges ahead, it must, at the very least, ensure that our community isn’t left holding the bag.
Jim Klein is a former at-large member of the Corpus Christi City Council and current chair of the Coastal Bend Group of the Sierra Club.