GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas - A proposed desalination plant near Bacliff is drawing pushback from environmental groups and nearby residents who worry about what it could mean for Galveston Bay's water quality and marine life.

Desalination plants pull in seawater and filter out the salt to produce fresh drinking water.

But the process also generates brine - a highly concentrated saltwater byproduct - that gets discharged back into the water.