Laguna Madre Water District outlines $72.7 million desalination plan, seeks $59 million bond on May 3 ballot

Laguna Madre Water District officials told the South Padre Island City Council that a seawater reverse‑osmosis desalination plant is on the May 3 ballot to provide a drought‑resistant water supply for the district.

The district described the full project cost as $72,700,000 and said it would produce up to 5,000,000 gallons of treated water per day in its initial phase with the potential to expand to 7.5 MGD. The ballot measure would seek authorization to issue tax bonds with a maximum principal of $59,000,000; the district said earlier funding and bonds already issued leave a remaining authorization request of $59 million for the construction phase.

Why it matters: district managers said low reservoir levels in Falcon and Amistad lakes and stage 3 (and potentially stage 4) water restrictions make an alternate water source urgent for domestic use and firefighting. The proposal includes intake, microfiltration, energy recovery devices and concentrate‑management systems, and district engineers said recent work on a wastewater outfall extension and microfiltration infrastructure is intended to support concentrate disposal and blending with Rio Grande sources.

Key details: District Engineer Charles Ortiz said a pilot plant with a temporary intake will begin in May for six months to a year to gather design data. Ortiz gave the project budget figures and said $10,000,000 of prior bond authority (from a 2011 proposition) was already issued to complete pilot and design work; the remaining project construction and associated costs were described as roughly $62,700,000 before the May ballot request. Ortiz provided a conservative tax‑rate estimate of 7¢ or less per $100 of taxable value under a no‑growth scenario, and noted that for a homestead with $200,000 in taxable value the estimated annual cost would be about $140 or less. He also said combined tax rates including the district’s sinking fund could be about 13¢ in early years as bonds are implemented.

Federal grant and timing: the district said it has a Bureau of Reclamation notice of…