{"id":293718,"date":"2026-05-15T00:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/293718\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:33:10","slug":"congressman-cloud-gives-update-on-federal-support-for-desalination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/293718\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Cloud Gives Update on Federal Support for Desalination"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-13-1024x320.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4522\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014Congressman Cloud announced today we are one step closer to desalination for Corpus Christi. Following President Trump\u2019s visit to the Coastal Bend in February, his Administration announced today expanded water infrastructure opportunities that open the door for significant federal funding for desalination in the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Until today\u2019s announcement, preexisting caps on desalination funding made substantial federal funding opportunities for desalination projects virtually impossible. Today, the Trump Administration announced the removal of the $30 million cap that previously served as a prohibitive hurdle to large-scale funding of projects, such as proposed desalination in Corpus Christi.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is no secret that the Coastal Bend is in need of long-term water solutions, and this is the first step into making things like desalination a reality for the region,\u201d said Rep. Cloud. \u201cIt was my privilege to work alongside President Trump and the Bureau of Reclamation in making this a reality through countless conversations, legislative requests, and President Trump\u2019s recent visit to Corpus Christi.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This cap removal comes alongside the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s announcement of a new funding opportunity through the WaterSMART program. The WaterSMART program is designed to leverage federal and non-federal funds to work with states and localities in implementing projects to increase water supply and resilience.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes after Rep. Cloud questioned Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in the U.S. Department of Interior, Andrea Travnicek, on the ongoing water crisis in an April <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/e80iNR7SFSA?si=Jp5Va2fMP0gW7WTa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">budget hearing<\/a>. Rep. Cloud asked for an update on Corpus Christi\u2019s application for federal funding under this program, and Assistant Secretary Travnicek confirmed that they had been tracking this application very closely and have had multiple conversations to make sure all the necessary pieces had been submitted in preparation for this funding opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The funding announcement references its advancement of Trump Administration priorities, including unleashing American Energy Dominance, in its project description.<\/p>\n<p>The full funding opportunity announcement can be read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grants.gov\/search-results-detail\/362395\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014Congressman Cloud announced today we are one step closer to desalination for Corpus Christi. Following President&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-293718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}