The health of tens of thousands of acres of seagrass habitat is in question now, after a SpaceX proposal to dump treated wastewater from its Boca Chica facilities.

SpaceX is proposing to dump up to 200 thousand gallons of treated wastewater per day, in a permit request to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Hudson Deyoe, an expert on seagrass at UTRGV, says the dumping will likely throw off conditions in the water, killing off sections of seagrass.

"They basically get kind of starved of light," he said.

UTRGV professor Hudson Deyoe said the main impact with a continual wastewater release in that area would be on the seagrass.

“They provide a habitat nursery for a lot of marine organisms and fish,” Deyoe said, adding that it's hard for seagrass to grow back once it's lost, and it needs a special balance of conditions.

In its proposal to the state, SpaceX says it will dump the wastewater after treating it at a waste water treatment plant.

Deyoe says the nutrient imbalance in the treated wastewater is enough to spur algae and other species to grow in the space above the seagrass.

"[It makes] the water cloudy, that means seagrass get less light,” Deyoe said, adding there's no telling how much seagrass would be lost, but he says such a large change will cause an impact.

Since the permit application started, hundreds of comments in favor and against the proposal have been recorded at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

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