Corpus Christi, Texas, home to major oil refineries, petrochemical plants, LNG export terminals, manufacturing facilities, and other national security industries, is facing a water crisis that has prompted local officials to look to the Gulf of Mexico for help.

Heavy industry, a growing population, and an extended drought have left the city facing water usage restrictions despite recent rains that observers say have bought the city an extra 90 days before imposing a Level 1 emergency (when water demand is projected to be six months from exceeding water supply).

Corpus Christi has historically relied on three reservoirs for its potable water, but two of them are at historic lows. Lake Corpus Christi is barely about 10 percent of its capacity as of last month, and Choke Canyon is down to seven percent; thankfully, recent rains increased capacity at Lake Texana from 55 percent to 76 percent. City officials have for years studied the cost-benefit of adding a desalination plant that could ease water shortage fears that across the nation are exacerbated by water usage by data centers.

Desalination, however, remains a controversial topic, with opponents claiming that discharges of salty brine (after its extraction from seawater) might negatively impact fishing and water recreation (and the marine environment itself). In a nation used to cheap water, the costs of producing desalinated water are also a factor.

City officials spent years and tens of millions of dollars on a desalination plant project that would have produced 30 million gallons per day (MGD) of drinking water by 2028, but scrapped the project last September after projected costs had ballooned from initial estimates of $160........

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