top of page

THE WATER WILL BE PRIVATE: AN ISRAELI DESALINATION GIANT'S TWO BETS ON SOUTH TEXAS

3 days ago
5 min read

An Israeli Desalination Giant Wants to Sell Water to Texas. The Valley Is Next in Line.


IDE Technologies just won the biggest desal contract in Texas history. Its partner is planning a $1 billion plant on South Padre Island. Nobody has said what the water will cost.


A video clip of a headline is making the rounds this week. It reads: "How Texas Could End Up Paying an Israeli Company Billions for Water."


Collage with news anchor beside DESALINATION PLANT graphic and a man in a hat; text asks Who Owns Your Water Supply? and Israel owns water supply in Texas

Watch video here


The headline is real. It comes from an Inside Climate News investigation published Oct. 28 by reporters Dylan Baddour and Arcelia Martin. The company is IDE Technologies, one of the largest seawater desalination builders in the world.


What the clip leaves out is the part that matters most to the Rio Grande Valley. IDE is not only coming to Corpus Christi. It is also a partner in a plant planned for our coast, near South Padre Island, that would sell water to Valley cities and industry.


Here is what we know, what we don't, and what to watch.


Who Is IDE?


IDE Technologies was founded in Israel in 1965. The company says it has built more than 400 desalination plants in 40 countries, including the Carlsbad plant in Southern California.


IDE started out state-owned. Inside Climate News reports it moved to private ownership in the 1990s. Since 2017, it has been fully owned by Alfa Water Partners, a private investment partnership.


So the "foreign entity" label is accurate. IDE is a private company headquartered in Israel. It is not the Israeli government.


The Corpus Christi Deal


This summer, the Nueces River Authority picked IDE to build the Harbor Island desalination plant on Corpus Christi Bay. The river authority is a small state water agency based in Uvalde.


IDE says the plant would eventually make up to 100 million gallons of fresh water a day. That would make it the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. State regulators at TCEQ approved its final permit on Sept. 23.


The river authority puts the total cost at $6.4 billion. About half is the plant. About half is more than 200 miles of pipeline to carry the water inland toward fast-growing cities near San Antonio and Austin. IDE would pay for the plant with private money. The river authority would build the pipelines.


That is where the "billions" in the headline comes from. It is a project estimate. It is not money already paid to IDE.


The project has had a rough few months. According to Inside Climate News, a river authority board member warned in June the agency could run out of money by late August. In August, the Texas Water Development Board approved a $7 million grant in a nine-minute special meeting after a staffer said the governor's office directed the award. In September, the authority's executive director resigned days before the board was set to discuss firing him.


Map of south Texas shows proposed Harbor Island desalination plant and numbered utility districts with fee table.

What Will the Water Cost?


Nobody knows yet. IDE says it will announce a price in January.


What we do know is how the deal is built. Corpus Christi already paid a $2.7 million deposit to reserve 50 million gallons a day. Once IDE names a price, the city will decide whether to sign a long-term purchase contract. Under that contract, the city would pay for the water whether it uses it or not.


Records obtained by Inside Climate News show buyers were told seawater desal usually runs $10 to $15 per 1,000 gallons. IDE's Texas director, Mark Ellison, told the river authority board the water will cost more than any river or groundwater. He called it an insurance policy.


Not everyone in Corpus Christi is sold. Council member Roland Barrera told Inside Climate News he believes the public should own the system, and he worries about what cities will pay when 20- or 30-year contracts run out. Council member Gil Hernandez countered that private companies build for far less than governments do.


The Valley Plant


This is where the story comes home.


In April, Houston-based US Desalination LLC and IDE announced a joint venture called RGV-Desal. The plan is a privately financed seawater plant that would produce up to 50 million gallons a day for the Valley. The price tag is about $1 billion. Engineering News-Record reported it could later grow to 100 million gallons a day.


US Desalination is chaired by Sean Strawbridge, the former CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi. He left the port in 2023 after a long fight with city leaders over his push for a privately owned desal plant on Harbor Island. Douglas Allison, the company's managing member, has said publicly the venture is not looking for state money.


KRGV, the Port Isabel-South Padre Press and Texas Border Business have reported the plant would be built on South Padre Island near the Laguna Madre. Inside Climate News places it at the Port of Brownsville. The 956 Report is working to confirm the exact site.


RGV-Desal says it will sign water supply deals with Valley utilities and industrial customers. It has not said who, or at what price.


Strawbridge told Inside Climate News a lot still has to happen first. Engineering. Permits. Facility design. A power deal. And a pipeline system to get the water into Valley supplies.


There is a public option on the same stretch of coast. The Laguna Madre Water District is building its own 5 million gallon a day desal plant. One public. One private. Same water. That comparison is worth watching.


Texas Water Newsroom article page about $64.655M approval for Laguna Madre water district seawater desalination plant, with year links կողton? Need alt text no quotes. Let's provide concise.

How Did Texas Get Here?


IDE did not show up overnight.


Ellison, who runs IDE in Texas, spent years in state government before joining the company in 2015. He worked under Rick Perry at the Texas Department of Agriculture and later in the governor's office as manager of strategic water initiatives. He was a founding board member of the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce.


In 2015, lawmakers passed a law to speed up permits for seawater desal plants. That same year IDE opened an office two blocks from the Capitol. In 2016, Gov. Greg Abbott visited Israel and toured an IDE plant.


None of this is evidence of wrongdoing, and Inside Climate News does not allege any. It shows a long, deliberate courtship between Texas leaders and one company, now paying off as the state turns to the sea.


Why It Matters Here


The Valley is running low on river water. Mexico's deliveries under the 1944 treaty have fallen short for years. Growth along the coast, from the port to Starbase to the LNG terminals, keeps pushing demand up.


Desalination may be the only big new source left. That is a real argument, and backers are making it.


But for generations, Texas water has been owned by the public. Cities, utility districts and river authorities. Public utilities have to charge what it costs to deliver water. Private companies get to set a price that earns a profit. And when a long contract ends, the company still owns the plant.


The issue is not which country the company comes from. Corpus Christi is also lining up water from a plastics plant owned by companies from Taiwan, Indonesia and Mexico. The issue is who owns the water and who sets the price.


Source links:

IDRA, RGV-Desal announcement: https://idrawater.org/?p=14559

Texas Border Business (Allison): https://brazosvalleygcd.org/?p=28289

Comments

bottom of page