A review of previous seawater desalination efforts along the Texas Gulf Coast identified an ample record of planning, feasibility, research, and pilot plant studies. This record, stretching as far back as the beginning of state water planning in Texas, provides a wealth of lessons that can be directly applied to the current Corpus Christi Variable Salinity Desalination Demonstration project. This technical memorandum presents a summary of the more relevant studies and the lessons derived from them. A key overarching lesson is that the more challenging issues to implementing a desalination project are not technical in nature. It is clear from the literature that there are no apparent technical impediments to seawater desalination in Texas. The more challenging issues are understanding and communicating why a project is being considered and its economic feasibility.
