Laguna Madre receives $10 million loan for desalination project
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The Laguna Madre Water District is looking to the Gulf of Mexico to serve as a new water source.
The Gulf has no shortage of water, but the issue is that it's highly concentrated with salt.
The new plan by the utility provider is to take water from the ocean, remove the salt and provide it as drinking water.
A plan is underway on how to continue providing water to communities the Laguna Madre Water District serves as supplies provided by the Rio Grande continue drying up.
"The river is running low. During the summer, we triple the population that comes in for tourism," Laguna Madre Water District General Manager Carlos Galvan said.
They've been looking for alternative sources to the Rio Grande.
"It's been exciting, because we've been waiting for quite a while for desalination to come in," Galvan said.
The desalination project is moving ahead financially.
Galvan says they just received the $10 million loan from the Texas Water Development Board for the desalination project.
He says that follows a bond election in 2011, where voters approved the utility to borrow money for this purpose. That would provide water for residents and the many tourists.
The Laguna Madre Water District plans to double its water delivery capacity with a desal plant.
They currently provide six to seven million gallons of water per day to customers during summer months. The desal facility would offer capacity for 10 million more.
"The challenge would be to maintain the filtration system," Galvan said.
Galvan says maintenance of a desal system is more complex and costly than standard water treatment methods, and they would use a portion of the desal system's capacity as needed, potentially even selling excess water to other communities.
"The growth is expanding everywhere in the Valley, and they are utilizing a lot of water for domestic use," Galvan said.
He says more work is ahead.
The $10 million will cover permitting and environmental testing. The entire project could cost around $70 million.
Engineers estimate construction could be complete in the next three years.
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