A new desalination plant is coming to the Rio Grande Valley to turn ocean water into fresh water.

US Desalination and IDE Technologies announced the joint venture in a Thursday news release. The companies formed RGV-Desal to design, develop, finance, and operate the facility.

The facility will be privately financed and is expected to cost around $1 billion.

The plant will draw seawater from the Gulf of Mexico and use reverse osmosis technology to produce drinking water. It's designed to deliver 50 million gallons of water a day.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino said the new plant will serve as a "drought-proof" water supply that will be built on South Padre Island near the Laguna Madre area.

"We need to have other options, we need to have other sources," Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino said. "We know that relying on the Rio Grande is no longer a viable option."

The project will serve public water utilities and industrial users across the Rio Grande Valley, and it's meant to supplement the region's existing water supply.

"The Rio Grande Valley has long relied on a limited and increasingly stressed water portfolio," US Desalination Chairman Sean Strawbridge said in a statement. "By partnering with IDE Technologies — a world leader in large-scale seawater desalination — we are bringing a proven, privately funded solution that will add meaningful and reliable supply for both public utilities and industrial customers across the region."

IDE Technologies has decades of experience building large-scale desalination plants worldwide. The company operates some of the largest facilities in Israel, the United States, Asia and across the Americas.

"With over six decades of experience delivering some of the largest and most advanced desalination plants in the world, IDE is uniquely positioned to support this critical project," IDE Technologies CEO Lihy Teuerstein said.