Plans are advancing on the Gulf Coast of Texas for an enormous seawater desalination plant which, if built, would be part of one of the largest water infrastructure developments in the country.

Unlike other projects, this one wouldn’t belong to the public, but to a private, foreign water supplier.

IDE Technologies, an Israeli water treatment giant that operates some of the largest seawater desalination plants in the world, was awarded the contract for the landmark Harbor Island project on Corpus Christi Bay this summer by the Nueces River Authority, a small state water agency.

“For our company, globally, this is Project One,” IDE regional sales director Mark Ellison told the NRA board of directors at its September meeting. “Our top priority.”

A 60-year-old, formerly state-owned firm, IDE has built more than 400 desalination plants in 40 countries, according to the company.

In Texas, rapid growth and intensifying droughts have stretched present water supplies to their limits. Generations of state leaders have touted the promise of seawater desalination plants, which would produce freshwater from the salty Gulf of Mexico. But Texas still awaits its first such facility.

Today, IDE’s Harbor Island project is the largest of five seawater desalination plants planned in the state.

The development of seawater desalination in Texas would mark a breakthrough for the state, unlocking a new, abundant source of water from the ocean. But it would come at a high cost to consumers, and would mark a dramatic transfer of the public water supply to private ownership.

“We’ve been here for a decade getting ready to get this started,” said Ellison, a former state water official during a presentation last month to officials in Corpus Christi, a major industrial port and the nation’s largest export hub for crude oil. “We’re moving very actively to get going.”

I’m looking into getting a filtration system for my house. I currently only have a sediment filter. I’ve been doing some research but it’s hard to know how much of a risk I am at for contamination of the ground water. I know I should get my water retested but I also want a filter to protect me from future contaminants I may not be aware of. I live in New England so there are super fund sites everywhere. I’m worried about flooding causing some of these contaminants spilling into my ground water. I am also concerned about radon. I have radon in the air (which I have a mitigation system for that) but will need to have my water tested.

The problem is I would want all my water to be safe. I have about of acre of land I farm too and don’t want to irrigate with contaminants. Any input is appreciated.

This has happens some times, have been drinking water from this sorce for a long time could me heavy minerals?

What specific geographical areas with data centers will suffer the most? How is water used in data centers? Isn't it being used to cool systems and never touches anything except the pipe it's in? Just want some clarity. I thought the water cycle means it replenishes itself. Do they have to use fresh water? Could they use sewage that's on the way to be cleaned?

There's gotta be a solution. It just stresses me out when people claim water is going extinct so I'd like to be able to have an explanation so I can avoid that common sentiment of "everything is bad and everything is going to be even badder". Also the water thing keeps people talking about other issues with AI/data centers.

I just want perspective to understand how much I should care about the AI water usage from data centers.

‘Cheap water is over’: A $500 bill shows a Southwest suburb’s dilemma

I’ve been getting water bottles from different locations and it’s like they don’t care anymore about our wellbeing.
Makes me super mad when I reach out to drink some water and there’s things flying all around my water ?! Has anyone else been weird and looking at their water bottles like this ?? Is it bc it’s reverse osmosis ? Electrolytes?? Plastic ??

Oct 25 2026 353 pm CDT

The failure to comply with marine pollution laws and merchant marine licensing requirements can't be tolerated by the maritime industry or the citizens of the United States. Ensuring the safety of our fellow mariners and protecting the marine environment are cornerstones of the Coast Guard's mission. This case clearly demonstrates the Coast Guard's commitment to work with our interagency partners to aggressively enforce maritime anti-pollution and safety laws, and provides a testament to the dedication of all persons who were involved in resolving this matter - including the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the U. S. Department of Justice, and the U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

- Rear Admiral Mary Landry, Eighth District Coast Guard Commander

The Defendants in this case are four: a marine towing company and its owner; the Captain in-charge of the tugboat, and an unlicensed employee. On July 23, 2008, a collision occurred in the Mississippi River near downtown New Orleans, with a significant oil spill. The river was closed, including raw water intakes supplying drinking water for New Orleans. An investigation followed, leading to CWA charges of negligence and obstruction of justice.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, July 23, 2008, the tug "Mel Oliver" pushed a barge loaded with biodiesel into the path of M/T "Tintomara", a 600-foot tanker ship sailing under the flag of Liberia. An estimated 282,686 thousand gallons of oil was spilled, resulting in closure of the river and its drinking water intakes from Mile 99 south to the Gulf. Four Parishes were forced to access alternate drinking water supplies, including Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes.

Dodging safety rules to save money
Investigators found unsafe and illegal staffing practices by the Defendant LLC, the tugboat owner. The Defendant routinely understaffed its tugboats. Coast Guard requires a licensed Pilot in charge of the vessel at all times, however, no individual may be scheduled more than 12 hours in a 24 hour period. The individual, owner-Defendant admitted to deleting corporate payroll records in an attempt to hide the staffing safety infractions. Just one qualified Captain was paid for the period in question. The Defendant admitted, the operation of Mel Oliver was left in the hands of an unlicensed deck hand on the night of the collision.

Sentencing in this case included a period of imprisonment for the owner-Defendant with additional two years supervised release and a federal fine. The corporate Defendant was sentenced to $200,000 federal fine and 2 yrs probation. The Captain in-charge was convicted of one Port and Waterways Safety Act violation, sentenced to a term of probation. The deck hand piloting the tug during the collision was convicted on two counts, CWA and Ports and Waterways Safety Act violations.

Prison time (co-owner): 21 months with Supervised Release: 24 months and $50,000 fine; Federal fines: total $250,000; Probation: total 60 months.

This case was investigated by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division and the United States Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dorothy Manning Taylor with sentencing determined by U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle.

The corporate Defendant pled guilty to the CWA violation, negligent discharge of oil to waters of the USA. The Defendant admitted to "creating hazardous conditions by (1) assigning employees without proper USCG licenses to operate certain vessels thereby causing these vessels to operate in the navigable waters of the United States with manning levels below those determined by the USCG to be necessary for safe navigation, and (2) paying licensed captains to operate a vessel for 24 hour a day without a relief captain, knowing that the Coast Guard viewed the use of over-fatigued mariners operating tugboats and barges to be a hazardous condition that would not allow for safe operation of the vessel. "

See last week's CrimeBox here, "Employees trimmed expenses by doctoring produced wastewater samples. A million dollar penalty ensued for illegal dumping of oil and grease into the Gulf"

CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.

https://wtla.us/viewarticle.asp?article=1271

Secure your hose bib!

Living beside one of the world’s largest rivers doesn’t necessarily mean having reliable access to drinking water.

Amazonas: The Memory of Water is an 18-minute documentary exploring how Amazonian communities experience water in everyday life—from dependence on rainfall to the knowledge passed down about the river and its cycles. As those patterns become less predictable, water also becomes a question of cultural memory and adaptation.

Watch the full documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFEeyHJ8I8g

For those working in water access or management, what approaches have you seen work well in remote communities with abundant surface water but limited drinking water infrastructure?

Removing a pollutant from water does not necessarily eliminate it. Filters and membranes can leave persistent chemicals concentrated in another waste stream, still requiring disposal or treatment. A catalytic membrane now offers a way to combine capture with the chemical reactions needed to break those contaminants down.

An international team involving Arizona State University tested the approach against six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. During a 58-day continuous laboratory experiment, average removal ranged from 93% to 99%. The system also released fluoride, evidence that it was breaking carbon-fluorine bonds rather than simply collecting the pollutants.

The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Bruce Rittmann, director of ASU’s Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, worked with colleagues at Rice University, Tongji University, the National University of Singapore and Nanjing University.

PFAS have been used in firefighting foams, water-resistant materials and other products because of their durability. That persistence also creates a contamination problem. Exposure to certain PFAS has been linked to immune effects, developmental problems and increased risks of some cancers, although the thousands of compounds in this family differ in their properties and evidence of harm.

not exactly what I had in mind but it would work ...catching condensation during the day and dew by night ...keeping the mosquitos out but able to harvest the algae 😁✔️

Fuck y'all

Well I Had a talk with my pee this morning and it told me im not drinking enough water. what should I do?