The Nueces River Authority expects to receive a $7 million grant from the Texas Water Development Board to support engineering for a conveyance system to transport water from a planned seawater desalination plant to Corpus Christi and Portland.
Staff members felt confident enough that the funds will come that they included the $7 million in fiscal year 2027 budget plans approved by the river authority Board of Directors Aug. 14, though the Texas Water Development Board hasn’t yet officially agreed to direct the funds to the project.
Earlier this year, the Texas Water Development Board chose other Texas water projects to fund, not prioritizing the Nueces River Authority’s Harbor Island desalination project at the time due to limited funds. At the time,
the river authority had requested $140 million.
According to 2027 budget documents, the $7 million grant from the water development board would make up the bulk of expected revenues for the river authority’s Harbor Island desalination plant fund.
In fiscal year 2026, the river authority received more than $4 million in municipal reservation fees from entities willing to pay to eventually secure water from Harbor Island, including the city of Corpus Christi. In the next budget year, it expects to receive more than $641,000 in municipal reservation fees and more than $82,000 in industrial reservation fees.
However, staff comments during the Aug. 14 meeting indicate that this includes dollars tied to reservation agreements that haven’t been fully approved. Staff members told the board that they expect that if those agreements do not go through, they should be able to find other buyers for reservation fees.
The anticipated Harbor Island desalination project expenses for fiscal year 2027 would amount to over $7 million, close to the amount the river authority hopes to receive from the state.
Last year, the river authority secured control of the large-scale desalination project after sending an unsolicited bid to the Port of Corpus Christi, which owns the land and began work securing permits years ago.
This spring, a letter from the former Nueces River Authority chief operating officer to the Board of Directors was leaked expressing concerns about Executive Director John Byrum’s leadership and that he had overstated information related to the Harbor Island project in conversations with board members and other entities.
After a review, the board cleared Byrum of “intentional wrongdoing” in May.
At the end of the Aug. 14 meeting, the board voted 9-5 to put an item on the agenda for the next board meeting to discuss possible action on Byrum’s employment.
Olivia Garrett reports on education and community news in South Texas. Contact her at olivia.garrett@caller.com.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Nueces River Authority hopes to receive state money for desal project
