Desalination Database Updates for Texas - Texas Water ...

Period
3.2 Desalination Facilities
The survey identified that Texas currently has 44 desalination facilities. Most of these facilities were built
between 1996 and 2010 (Figure 3-2). The survey also identified that three facilities (the City of Electra,
Haciendas Del Notre Water Improvement District, and the City of Primera) decommissioned their
desalination plants in the past five years. Total design capacities of these three facilities were about 3
MGD.
2006-10
2001-05
1996-2000
1991-95
1986-90
1981-85
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Number of Facilities
Figure 3-2: Start-up year for desalination facilities in Texas
3.3 Desalination Capacities
Depending on the source, desalination is divided into two major categories; seawater desalination (total
dissolved solids concentration is greater than 25,000 mg/L) and brackish water desalination (total
dissolved solids concentration varies from 1,000 – 10,000 mg/L). Brackish water source is further divided
into two sub categories; brackish surface water and brackish groundwater.
Currently, Texas does not have any full-scale seawater desalination facility. There are 44 brackish water
desalination facilities in Texas, with a design capacity of approximately 120 MGD (including blending).
Four of these facilities are currently sitting idle (City of Granbury, City of Los Ybanez, Veolia Water, and
Windermere Water System). Table 3-1 provides a list of the desalination facilities in Texas that have the
capacity of producing more than 25,000 gallons of water per day.
Twelve of forty four facilities use surface water as a source of raw water, which accounts for design
capacity of 50 MGD. Thirty two facilities use groundwater as a raw water source, which accounts for the
design capacity of 70 MGD. Figure 3-3 shows the location of brackish surface water and brackish