The Wednesday Wetness
It seems inconceivable, even if you're aware of the perilous situation that
the world's
water supplies are in, but a developed coastal city in Texas that more than 300,000 people call
home is now in serious danger of running out of water.
The city
is Corpus Christi, and difficulties with water scarcity are now coming to a
head after years of concerns over shortages. There are multiple
issues combining here, perhaps most importantly the arrival of major
industrial developments, off the back of the unlocking of vast oil and gas
reserves that came with
the shale revolution.
One
plastics chemical complex, built in 2022, uses as much water for cooling every day as all the Corpus
Christi residents combined.
A planned seawater desalination
plant, which was supposed to ease some of the pressure brought on by rising
industrial water usage, never materialized, further compounding the problem
of supply.
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