MCALLEN, Texas - Arnold Ramsey of McAllen is an engineer who worked on desalination projects and reverse osmosis throughout the 1980s. He is also an ambassador to the Rio Grande Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Ramsey had a question for Doug Allison, board member and regulatory counsel for US Desalination at a Regional Water Infrastructure Forum hosted by the RGVHCC at the Embassy Suites in McAllen on June 24.
Cynthia Sakulenzki, president of RGVHCC, invited leaders with RGV Desal to give an update on their proposed seawater desalination project for South Padre Island. RGV Desal, LLC, part of US Desalination, is an initiative to secure a sustainable water future for the Valley. By turning seawater into clean, reliable water, RGV Desal, plans to ensure water independence for families, farmers, and businesses across the region.
Here is Ramsey’s question:
“I’m an engineer who studied and worked with desalination, reverse osmosis throughout the 80s. I like to revisit the environmental question (about your project). That's a real big issue that I hear a lot of people talking about. We all know that the Mediterranean Sea and the Pacific Ocean are different from the Laguna Madre. The currents are going to be important. The water temperature is going to be important, when we talk about the brine discharge. What type of studies have been done? I know you alluded to this earlier, but what in-depth studies have been done to quell the public's anxiety with that discharge? That's going to be an important issue when we talk about environmental facts.”
Allison, of US Desalination, responded:
“I want you at every one of our meetings. I'm so serious. You've got to understand. I'm going to make a little bit of a fun joke, but it's true. When I was asking questions of the marine biologist in our contested case matters, finally the marine biologist looked at me, and he said, "You know, I'm not a fish physiologist, and I said, "I know. I said, "I've read two books on it, so I got some questions for you.” Okay, that is how thoroughly we vetted it. But hold on, let me give you a full, full answer. We did testing on what are the EPA approved type of green life, certain types of minnows and different sort of specified marine organisms that they want you to do testing on in order to understand their tolerance to increased salinity. We've done that testing. And, by the way, that is specific to the Texas Gulf Coast.
“Okay, and you need to take one more step back. I want you to understand this. We have studied the entire Texas Gulf Coast. I can tell you that your bay is, you know, three, four, five, feet, and the Corpus Christi Bay is 11 feet. And I can tell you how much water, with all the data (we have), comes into this bay and estuary area, and so the bays and estuaries have increasing and decreasing salinity, whereas the Gulf is steady salinity. Okay, that's one of the reasons we want to go offshore. I can tell you the reason we took it offshore is because we understand there is rightfully a concern about environmental impacts on Laguna Madre.
“I can tell you that, because of your bays being shallower, that you have seagrass on the entire bay, almost, which is a really unique feature, and it makes it a great nursery ground, which means we put our intake and discharge offshore.
“I can tell you that we've had our marine biologist do a thorough study, and we know how fast each fish swims, so that we can make sure the intake meets a specification of a intake speed for the water of no greater than point five feet per second, because that's slower than even the smallest swimming organism swims.
“I could go on and on, and we did papers on it. We actually published certain papers in the scientific journals that were supportive of those exact issues for bays and estuaries in Texas. Because you're 100 percent right. The Mediterranean is different. There's actually a great study, the Sosa study, that I love very much, because it was the one in my mind that really proved they did have some problems with seagrasses there, because they were discharging into a bay type area, and then they changed to a high velocity diffuser, and all the seagrasses came back. And again, we're not even going to have that issue, because we're going offshore with our intake and discharge.
“But I can tell you that we did those sort of specific studies on the specific type of marine organisms that were of concern, including our own studies on redfish drum larva. Okay, and we had all of that data that we put together with the marine biologist that I referred to earlier, peer reviewed by the marine ecologist out of Australia, and we have a tremendous body of evidence to speak to that.
“I so want that question at every meeting, and I so want people to understand, because it's just the truth. I'm from here. I grew up in these bays. I would not be here if I was not 100 percent convinced that we can do it safely. It's got to be done by people who know what they're doing, and it's got to be in the right location. And it is best to have your intake and discharge offshore. And if you want to talk later, I can keep going.”
