City of Corpus Christi Complete Inner Harbor Water Treatment Field Modeling

City of Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS (News Release) – GHD, the engineering and environmental consulting firm contracted by Kiewit, released the near and far field modeling data for the Inner Harbor Water Treatment Campus (IHWTC) – the City’s seawater desalination initiative.

The purpose of this modeling is to ensure the IHWTC will meet the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) discharge permit requirements and develop a discharge design that enables the IHWTC to operate properly under all likely environmental and water quality conditions. The conclusions of the modeling, which has produced 400,000,000 iterations to date, are that the IHWTC will meet the TCEQ permit requirements, the modeled intake conditions are within treatment plant design tolerances, and the modeling indicates no adverse impacts to the Corpus Christi Bay.

“We are confident in the information GHD, as world-class environmental consultants and premier engineering professionals, have provided,” said Corpus Christi COO Drew Molly. “We have always had faith in Kiewit’s ongoing design work, and we are excited to share data with the public that validates that there will be no detrimental effects to Corpus Christi Bay.”

The modeling conclusions with regard to the discharge design, which involves high-force jet diffusion, show that performance is 50% more effective than what is required in the TCEQ permit. Improved diffusion performance ensures greater mixing of the plant’s discharge, which is expected to lead to a quicker return to ambient salinity levels.

The model also validated the impacts to the intake of known TCEQ permitted discharges, future discharges, diversions, velocity, tidal levels, bathymetry, and currents. The modeled intake salinity was consistently below allowable design levels, meaning there will be no impact to the treatment process.

According to the City of Corpus Christi, the model also shows no adverse salinity impacts or threats to local ecology. Specifically, salinity levels preferred by the most common marine life of the Bay – white and brown shrimp, sheepshead, seatrout, red and black drum, southern flounder, grey snapper, and blue crab – were met at the Ship Channel’s entrance to Corpus Christi Bay.