Corpus Christi is considering a major change to how it would handle the brine produced by a proposed inner harbor desalination plant.
The city is looking at the possibility of building a pipeline that would carry concentrated saltwater from the plant into the Gulf of Mexico instead of discharging it into the bay.
Councilman Roland Barrera says the Gulf pipeline could also allow the desalination project to eventually produce up to 80 million gallons of water a day.
"If we expanded to discharge out into the gulf then that brings the capacity up to 80,000,000 gallons a day. So, that's also phase 2, which is also in our presentation tomorrow," Barrera said.
The proposal is raising questions about how the city would make sure the pipeline is actually built.
Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn said she supports the idea of moving the brine into the Gulf, but wants guarantees that the pipeline will be constructed rather than having the desalination plant move forward without it.
"I love that because that's been a big concern about the brine but, how are we going to guarantee that they are going to build it? How are we going to guarantee it? Because what they're gonna do is they're going to do the desal plant first and they're saying you've got to come back and get the permit for the pipeline to go out for the discharge," Vaughn said.
The proposal also calls for monitoring stations to track what is being discharged into the bay.
Barrera says the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Foundation would oversee the monitoring. The goal would be to continuously collect data and compare it with information gathered during previous studies of the proposed project.
"They are proposing a monitoring system so that way we can continue to do this ongoing monitoring of all of the discharge into the bay so that way what it does, it validates the data that we've got from all the various Far Field Model studies," Barrera said.
Vaughn also wants the city to provide a clear picture of the project's total cost and how it would be paid for before the project moves forward.
"When you bring a project forward, you have got to have a cost. How are you going to pay for it? How much is it going to cost, we have not seen that yet. So, we're gonna wanna know what it's going to cost," Vaughn said.
Corpus Christi City Council is set to consider awarding Corpus Christi Desal Partners up to $78 million Tuesday.
The money would cover 60% design of the project, construction of the demonstration plant and development of a guaranteed maximum price for the project.
The inner harbor desalination project remains one of the city's most closely watched water projects as Corpus Christi looks for additional sources of water for the future.