City staff and CPS Energy of San Antonio are exploring the Barney Davis Power Plant as a potential site for a seawater desalination facility.
One of the biggest questions surrounding the project is where the brine — the concentrated saltwater left over from the desalination process — would go. City Manager Peter Zanoni told the council Tuesday that the discharge would have to go offshore or to the Gulf, and a new permit would be required.
"He does not want in any way, shape or form to think we can discharge the brine into the cooling ponds and ultimately into that Oso Bay. Uh, that's off the table. So he said, this would have to be a new discharge into the Gulf," Zanoni said.
I headed to Flour Bluff to see what neighbors think. Flour Bluff native Bonnie Mitchell told me she is glad the city is finally moving forward.
"They need to look at other options, and now they're considering talking to Barney Davis, and I think that's great. I think you need to make a decision and they've prolonged this too long," Mitchell said.
Neighbor Gale Gorke agrees and hopes the community keeps an open mind about the possibility.
"I hope that people are open-minded about some things because they think sometimes we get stuck in our habits, and we don't always look at options that could be helpful," Gorke said.
The city says CPS Energy is willing to lease or sell the property to a public-private partnership, rather than directly to the city. The city would not get a discount on the electricity for the potential desalination plant.
For now, a desalination plant is a long way from becoming a reality.
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