As coastal communities in Texas increasingly turn to desalination of both brackish groundwater and saline surface water to meet growing freshwater demands, CCA Texas supports responsible, science-based practices that protect the health of our state’s coastal ecosystems, fisheries, and water quality.
Background
Desalination is becoming more common across the Texas coast, using technologies like reverse osmosis to remove salts and produce freshwater from two main sources:
- Brackish groundwater, drawn from deep aquifers with moderate salinity levels (typically 1,000–10,000 mg/L TDS), and
- Saline surface water, such as seawater from bays, estuaries, or the Gulf (typically 10,000 – 35,000 mg/L TDS).
While desalination can provide much-needed water for municipal and industrial uses, it also produces a concentrated byproduct known as brine, a high-salinity waste stream that must be carefully managed to avoid environmental harm.
Disposal of this brine, particularly through discharge into rivers, streams, or estuaries, raises significant environmental concerns that have not been adequately addressed in Texas.
Environmental Concerns
Scientific evidence shows that surface discharge of concentrated brine, from either brackish or marine desalination facilities, can disrupt salinity, oxygen levels, and water quality in sensitive coastal systems. These changes can:
- Exceed salinity tolerances for many fish and invertebrates, causing stress, habitat loss, or even mortality.
- Degrade vital habitats such as seagrass beds and oyster reefs that support redfish, trout, flounder, and other important species.
- Disrupt the natural ecological balance, especially in already stressed or poorly flushed bay systems.
While in rare cases some brine discharges might dilute overly salty or stagnant water, these situations are highly site-specific and temporary and are often outweighed by long-term risks to coastal health and biodiversity.
CCA Texas Recommendations
Above all, CCA Texas is guided by our commitment to sustainable coastal fisheries, which has shaped our position on previous desalination discharge permits. In addition to the Harte Research Institute’s recommendations, CCA Texas urges the following for all desalination projects, which include both brackish groundwater and saline surface water projects:
- Avoid surface discharge of brine into rivers, streams, or estuaries, particularly in shallow, semi-enclosed, or poorly flushed bay systems.
- Prioritize deep-well injection into isolated underground formations, ensuring no risk of contamination to freshwater aquifers or groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
- Support offshore discharge where deep-well injection is not feasible, but only after thorough modeling shows negligible impact on marine ecosystems.
- Require a strong environmental review before any discharge is approved, including:
- Hydrologic and salinity modeling under seasonal and climatic variations
- Baseline and post-discharge biological assessments
- Transparent engagement with the public and resource stakeholders
- Establish benchmark hydrological studies and site-specific science before any discharge is considered. At minimum, we need comprehensive baseline data and peer-reviewed studies to assess potential impacts and determine if such discharges can be done without harm to ecosystem function.
- Encourage continued research and monitoring to fully understand the cumulative impacts of desalination and guide adaptive management or mitigation strategies, utilizing advice and expertise provided by unbiased academic research institutions, i.e., Texas A&M University Corpus Christi – Harte Research Institute and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.
Conclusion
Texas must pursue innovative solutions to meet growing water demands, but not at the expense of our coastal ecosystems and our world-class saltwater fishery, which generates an estimated $4.2 billion in annual economic impact according to the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. CCA Texas is committed to working alongside government agencies and private partners to identify new water resources in ways that are both sustainable and ecologically responsible.
We believe Texas can secure its water future without compromising the health of our bays and estuaries by focusing on large-scale desalination projects that utilize offshore intake and discharge, minimizing risk to our most sensitive coastal habitats.
CCA Texas will continue to advocate for practices that are grounded in science and protective of the people, places, and fisheries that define the Texas coast. Our coastal communities rely on healthy bays for their livelihoods, for recreation, and for the peace of mind that comes from knowing these natural treasures will be here for generations to come.
