By ARABELLA SERRATA
Staff Writer
Recently, the Laguna Madre Water District [LMWD] received a $10 million loan from the Texas Water
Development Board [TWDB] for the desalination process.
The TWDB has funded upwards of a hundred thousand dollars in past desalination processes; their full
record of current and completed projects can be found on their website, www.twdb.texas.gov.
The Rio Grande has been drying up in recent times due to the overall climate heating up, and the Laguna
Madre Water District is looking for another source of water to take its place. According to the LMWD, The
Gulf of Mexico [GOM] can be that source, but it needs to go through the process of desalination.
Desalination is the process of removing salt from the water, so it is suitable for human consumption.
This has pushed the district to seek sources elsewhere and they believe the GOM is the answer. The
official website states the process would consist of “ raw water intake from the Gulf of Mexico, a raw water
pumping station, pretreatment consisting of pre-screening and microfiltration, primary treatment consisting
of reverse osmosis, post-treatment consisting of chemical addition and concentrate disposal.”
The plant will be located near the Port Isabel Water District. A press release for the State Water
Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) confirmed they plan on helping the district, ultimately saving them
about $793,000.
There was a desalination pilot project in 2008 done by Texas Innovative Technologies. The final report
states that the desalination process at the Brownsville ship was “technically feasible,” even with
challenges.
The GOM is an ocean basin rich with consistent water flow and resources. According to WorldAtlas, a
website dedicated to geography, it is wedged between parts of America and Mexico and opens up to Cuba.
The Rio Grande is a large body of water that goes from Colorado to Brownsville and falls into the Gulf of
Mexico. According to American Rivers, a non-profit environmental advocate, it relies on rainwater and
general runoff to fill itself. It is also important to the economy of the areas it runs through. It is “quite
literally the backbone of local economies,“ according to the website.
For more information, the Laguna Madre Water District can be contacted at (956) 943-2626.
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