Proposed Bacliff desalination plant raises concerns about Galveston Bay’s future

A proposed desalination plant near Bacliff is drawing pushback from environmental groups and nearby residents who worry about what it could mean for Galveston Bay’s water quality and marine life.

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Desalination plants pull in seawater and filter out the salt to produce fresh drinking water.

But the process also generates brine — a highly concentrated saltwater byproduct — that gets discharged back into the water.

That discharge is at the heart of the debate.

The proposed facility, known as the Bayshore Desalination Plant, would be built on the site of the former P.H.

The project is being developed by EPCOR, which says it would provide a drought-resilient water source for a region of nearly 8 million people.

Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation, says his organization’s mission is protecting the bay — and he believes this project is in the wrong place.

“The biggest concern is we think it’s the wrong place for this facility,” Stokes said.

“It’s probably at least 10 miles from offshore and would be discharging near Dickinson Bay.

There’s a whole bunch of fishing that goes on in that area.

There’s a whole bunch of oyster reefs in that area — and higher salinity levels have the possibility of impacting those reefs.” The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has already issued a draft permit for the project, indicating the agency’s technical review has progressed to the next stage.

But Stokes says that’s far from the finish line.