So that was before the current drought started.
As of March 2026, reservoirs are below 10%, threatening to deplete water supplies. Major historical droughts occurred in the 1950s, 1996, and 2010–2014.
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
Allegedly, environmentalists were involved questioning the salty discharge and it’s impact. Also, certain council members wanted it to go to certain preferred contractors. Funny, the price I read was $140 million and, now, it’s a billion.
To use a military term Corpus is FUBAR
Actually it’s more Texas failed to plan.
Fact, recently in 2025, the state realized it and just past legislation.
The 89th Legislature prioritized long-term water resilience to support massive population growth, aiming to address the projected $200 billion in necessary water infrastructure investment over the next 50 years
You know this would not impact the bay how ?
Just for completeness I should have added that it looks like water permitting is
now the domain of the state, unless I’m interpreting this wrong.
Key Agencies and Infrastructure
TWDB (Texas Water Development Board): Responsible for conducting regional water planning and administering the Texas Water Fund.
TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality): Responsible for permitting water use and setting water quality standards.
Texas Water Development Board (.gov)
Texas Water Development Board (.gov)
+4
I don’t think that exactly how it’s going to work. As I recall, this was set up as a first step towards managing groundwater on a larger scale than before, as well as provide funding assistance to water projects, but the state isn’t “in charge” of the whole thing.
Okay; what about subsurface water in Texas ? Is usage of it totally unregulated?
Drill and take all you want ? I know rice farming in this area has mostly dried up ,
but don’t know if that’s to economics or enforcement, and if so by who ?
It depends. Some areas are part of larger groundwater districts which have varying levels of oversight, while other areas are largely unregulated. Even where commercial usage is regulated, enforcement powers are weak. And conservation is often considered secondary to selling water, but these water districts are independently managed.
Beyond that, there’s a huge gap in oversight when it comes to permitting for new development (commercial and residential). In my area, we’ve been under significant water rationing go most of the last three years, yet the water provider (privately owned) continues to represent that it has adequate water to supply new subdivisions for 10 years so that they can get their permits to proceed. If there’s not enough water for current residents to wash their cars, how can there be enough water to add thousands of new homes to the same system?
Our population has exploded since the 1950s as well. People use a ton of water.
In my old MUD, we started getting pretty stiff charges by a regional entity for the
mandated conversion from well to surface water about 20 years ago.
The NHCRWA
In 1999, the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District (HGSD) extended their surface water conversion mandates northward and issued a regulatory plan that included a phased mandate for Northwest Harris County area to convert the groundwater usage to alternate sources, namely surface water.
During the same year, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2965, creating the North Harris County Regional Water Authority (NHCRWA). At the time, the area encompassed approximately 160 utility districts with 500+ regulated groundwater wells, 2 cities, and a quarter-million residents.
https://www.nhcrwa.com/about/#:~:text=Primary%20Mission,of%20groundwater%20usage%20by%202035.
All true, just as thirsty new industries use massive amounts of water too.
I was surprised to see the amount of water some refineries use; always over
looked that aspect.
Yeah, MUDs are a little different animal. Those are formed specifically for subdivisions/developments to fund wells and water supply in advance of building, and the costs are “recouped” as taxes. These MUDs drill water wells subject to the rules of GWCDs to the extent they exist, but they also just purchase water from surface water sources. In your case, the Subsidence District (different from a GWCD) dictated that water wells would have to be phased out to avoid another instance like the Brownwood subdivision along the San Jacinto River near Baytown.
If it increased the salinity level, would it have a negative impact? Nobody seems to have studied it. If the Nueces gets a heavy dose of rain, then the salinity level drops.
Corpus Christi Bay can run from 15 to 35 ppt. Baffin Bay, which has no outlet on average is 30 ppt. The higher salinity helps fish procreation. I suspect it may impact oysters and crabs but not really sure
I can’t imagine that no one has studied it before or isn’t currently.
All I can find is monitoring but no analysis
Here is some feedback. If plants use diffusers ( mixing with seawater and dispersed over large areas) it minimizes the risk. Of course that’s the catch-22;
more expensive to implement, maintain , and who monitors.
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/12/desalination-process-freshwater-negative-environmental-cost/
Put a price on running out of water, and it doesn’t seem so expensive.
While desalination plants are discharging brine back into the ocean, elsewhere there are facilities evaporating seawater to extract salt. 
Apparently Texas has over 100 GCDs ( groundwater conservation districts) that are created by the legislature. Pretty much whatever is under your land is yours, unless it’s in GCD. Then I’ve read they could limit you to 25,000 gallons/day.
But there is a mountain of state stuff out there on water in texas (surface, river, and groundwater). I don’t pretend to even have a good grasp on it…but it seems that
a GCD could be used as a tool to stop unwanted industries with high water demands if that’s what is desired by an area. Just speculation on my part…
Texas Groundwater Conservation Districts (GCDs) can limit groundwater pumping
. Under Chapter 36 of the Texas Water Code, GCDs are empowered to manage and conserve water by requiring permits, setting spacing requirements, and issuing pumping limitations, especially during droughts, to ensure sustainable water use. These limits often apply to non-exempt wells, while smaller, domestic, or livestock wells are generally exempt.
Hill Country Alliance +4
Key Aspects of Pumping Limitations:
I think y’all might be interested in some of the dirty business that can happen to form a MUD. This is happening near where I live, and this MUD will service a large and semi-high density (40’x120’ lots) development which will dump effluent from its treatment plant into an occasional stream flowing directly into Canyon Lake, a primary source of drinking water. This becomes more problematic with an ongoing drought and low lake levels that will raise the concentration of this wastewater in the lake, and with no natural flow in the dry stream, some portion of this water will end up in our aquifers.
And the same water company that is disallowing customers any outside use (including hand-watering plants, washing cars, power-washing anything) gave this development a green light by saying it could provide water for at least 10 years.
County officials will insist that they have no power to regulate, slow or stop this kind of development because state laws have stripped them of meaningful local control.
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