Desalination Facts

Texas currently has a total of 53 municipal desalination facilities that have total desalination capacity of 157 million gallons per day (176,013 acre-feet per year). Sixteen of these facilities use brackish surface water as a source of raw water, which accounts for a design capacity of 65 million gallons per day (72,443 acre-feet per year). Thirty-six facilities use brackish groundwater as a raw water source, which accounts for a design capacity of approximately 90 million gallons per day (100,769 acre-feet per year). One facility uses reclaimed water as a raw water source, which accounts for a design capacity of approximately 2.5 million gallons per day (2,800 acre-feet per year). Source: TWDB Desalination Plant Database, 2020.

In addition, industrial desalination capacity in the state is estimated to be about 60 to 100 million gallons per day (about 67,000 to 112,000 acre-feet per year) mainly in the power and semi-conductor industries. Source: TWDB, 2005.

The largest inland municipal desalination plant in Texas, the Kay Bailey Hutchison desalination plant in El Paso, has a design capacity of approximately 27.5 million gallons per day (30,800 acre-feet per year) and went into production in August 2007.

Texas does not yet have a seawater desalination plant for municipal purposes. M&G Resins USA, LLC partially finished the construction of an industrial seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 15 million gallons per day (6,721 acre-feet per year) but then filed bankrupt and sold.

The average cost to produce 1 acre-foot of desalinated water from brackish groundwater ranges from approximately $357 to $782. The average cost to produce one acre-foot of desalinated water from seawater is projected to range from approximately $800 to about $1,400. Source: Cost of Brackish Groundwater Desalination in Texas.

The volume of new water supplies coming from brackish groundwater, seawater, and brackish surface water desalination recommended water management strategies by 2070 is 192,000 acre-feet per year (2.5 percent of total new water supplies), 157,000 (2.0 percent), and 63,000 (0.8 percent), respectively.

"Nine planning groups recommended groundwater desalination strategies and three recommended seawater desalination strategies. Planning groups cited the cost of desalination treatment and infrastructure, a lack of interested project sponsors, and the existing availability of non-brackish water sources as reasons for not recommending groundwater desalination strategies."

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