The Port of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas, has completed permitting for a proposed 100-million-gal.-per-day desalination facility on Harbor Island after receiving approval Sept. 23 from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for an offshore discharge permit.
The permit clears the way for the proposed plant to produce potable water for industrial and municipal use. The project would use an offshore seawater intake and discharge system extending into the Gulf. A separate U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit describes an intake about 1.3 miles offshore and an outfall approximately 1.8 miles offshore, with pipelines connecting the structures to Harbor Island.
The offshore plan replaces an earlier, smaller configuration. TCEQ issued the port a nearshore discharge permit in December 2022 for a proposed 50-million-gal.-per-day plant with an outfall adjacent to the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. In March 2025, the port applied instead for an offshore permit supporting a 100-million-gal.-per-day facility.
The Port Commission voted in May 2025 to abandon the nearshore permit once the offshore permit was secured, finding that maintaining both was unnecessary and that the offshore discharge configuration was preferable.
“The Port of Corpus Christi initiated the process to secure permits for a proposed desalination facility on Harbor Island almost a decade ago, recognizing the increasingly critical need to establish a reliable, drought-resilient water supply for the region,” said Kent Britton, CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi.
Britton said the port moved the plant’s intake and discharge offshore during the permitting process in response to concerns about effects on the local bay system.
The port would serve as landlord rather than plant operator. The Harbor Island site is leased to the Nueces River Authority, which is working with IDE Technologies to advance the project.
“This final step in permitting a desalination facility on Harbor Island is pivotal for our region’s search for a long-term solution to water supply challenges,” said Gabe Guerra, chairman of the Port of Corpus Christi Commission.
The port did not announce a construction start date or projected in-service date.
