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The planned seawater desalination plant in Port Isabel has received another round of funding in a more than $17 million grant made possible through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, announced Tuesday $17,501,302 in federal funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the Laguna Madre Water District’s construction of the plant.
Laguna Madre Water District voters in 2011 approved a $15.6 million tax bond for the project and in July 2024, the water district received a $10 million Texas Water Development Board loan to further the project.
It will take three to four years to design and build the desalination plant and the projected cost for completion is $70 million.
The desalination plant aims to expand the district’s water supply to provide a drought-resilient water source for the region.
Gonzalez, who supported the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, said in the Tuesday release that he was delighted to announce the funding.
“While we continue to modernize and build new infrastructure to increase in-land water resiliency and work with Mexico to ensure our rightfully owed water deliveries, this plant will play a pivotal role in addressing the water demands of our region,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
The Rio Grande Valley has been racked by water woes as reservoir levels at the Falcon and Amistad reservoirs — the primary source of water for the region — remain at record lows.
Those record lows are coupled by Mexico’s failure to deliver water to the reservoirs that it owes the United States under a long-standing treaty.
The problem has resulted in tough decisions for area farmers and the closure of the Valley’s only sugar mill.
Carlos Galvan Jr., the Laguna Madre Water District’s general manager, said the agency has been proactive in working toward desalination and said the $17 million grant means the project can definitely move forward in the district’s efforts to not be dependent on water in the Rio Grande.
Galvan thanked Gonzalez, the district’s state and federal partners, and the voters who approved the project in 2011.
“This funding will support the construction of a new seawater intake structure, raw water pipeline to the existing water treatment plant, microfiltration, and reverse osmosis systems, among other improvements. Once constructed, the facility will produce 3,853 acre-feet of desalinated water annually,” the release stated.
The Laguna Madre Water District serves South Padre Island, Port Isabel, Long Island Village, Laguna Heights and Laguna Vista.