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In Boca Chica’s South Bay, spotted seatrout swim by oyster beds and seagrass searching for shrimp or small crab to eat.
The local fishing spot, neighboring SpaceX’s newly established company town, Starbase, has had limited human activity until recently, according to aquatic ecologist and UTRGV professor Hudson DeYoe.
DeYoe has been investigating potential effects of discharging treated sewage into South Bay. Texas Parks and Wildlife contacted him about its intent to get funding for a study analyzing how quickly water gets replaced in the South Bay, or its flushing rate, DeYoe said.
SpaceX applied for a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in 2023. The permit would authorize the construction of a domestic wastewater treatment facility that would discharge up to 200,000 gallons of treated wastewater into South Bay per day.
The permit application is listed by TCEQ as active though the commission has not conducted any actions on the application since November 2024 after a public meeting was canceled and never rescheduled.
TCEQ representatives have not been available for comment since Monday.
Though the permit’s activity has halted, DeYoe cited his public comment on the matter.
He spoke on how South Bay was designated as a coastal preserve by Texas Parks and Wildlife in the 1980s.
“It is relatively small, semi-isolated, has limited activity and contains unique and fragile biological communities,” said the 1989 management plan for South Bay’s coastal preservation.
Environmental advocacy groups such as SaveRGV have spoken against the domestic discharge permit application.
Groups also contested another permit that TCEQ granted for SpaceX’s “non-process deluge system water” from rocket launch sites, or what the South Texas Environmental Justice Network called “untreated industrial wastewater.”
Treated wastewater removes some of the stuff that would be expected in wastewater, said DeYoe, but dissolved organic matter, nitrogen from things like plant fertilizer, and phosphorus from detergents can remain.
This excessive nutrient loading, he explained, would be absorbed by bacteria, little algae, big algae and seagrass.
More algae at the surface of the bay could block the light that would typically reach seagrass.
“If for whatever reason, I’m not saying who’s involved, there’s less seagrass, there’s less fish, less fishermen,” DeYoe continued. “Less fishermen, less economic income coming into the coast.”
Seagrass also improves water quality and keeps the sediment in place when it’s windy and filters the water, he said, adding that seagrass provides a lot of useful services.
Assuming SpaceX gets the permit and builds a wastewater treatment plant, DeYoe said, the impact of the discharge on the bay is unknown.
The city of Starbase, made up primarily of SpaceX employees, plans to annex about 7,100 acres of surrounding land for September. It is also working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on a potential 700-acre land exchange.
“Environmental stewardship and long-term land management are core considerations in planning decisions,” according to a Starbase flyer the city shared about the annexation.
With effects of treated wastewater on the bay unknown, DeYoe is trying to figure out how long treated wastewater once discharged into South Bay would stick around.
DeYoe’s UTRGV graduate student, Danielle Martinez, has been collecting seagrass, water and sediment samples for an unfunded seagrass survey of South Bay since last year.
Now, with potential funding for a study from Texas Parks and Wildlife, he can help look at how long it takes for water to pass through the bay.
“Since the treated wastewater will contain nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and pollutants, the less time that water is in the bay the better,” DeYoe said. “The nitrogen and phosphorus would stimulate the growth of microalgae and drifting seaweeds that could have detrimental effects on seagrass, which the fish in South Bay depend on.”
Texas Parks and Wildlife were unavailable to respond for comment on the potential study.