The newest piece of infrastructure coming to Starbase, Texas, isn’t a launch mount or a booster. It’s a water pipeline, and who can hook up a tap (and on what terms) will shape the definition of “company town.”
The new line, which will stretch from Brownsville to the newly incorporated city of Starbase, will replace the truck-hauled deliveries SpaceX has used to transport potable water for its employees and on-site residents. Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB) COO Mark Dombroski confirmed the line at a July 16 meeting, saying the board had executed a contract with SpaceX to provide water as an in-city customer.
The BPUB approved the SpaceX contract on June 2, Dombroski told TechCrunch over email. He did not explain why SpaceX is being treated as an in-city nonresidential customer, which carries a cheaper rate class than outside-city customers, despite the fact that the company did, indeed, establish its own city.
“Under a non-standard development agreement, SpaceX will extend — at their cost — a line to a metering point within the city limits, then transport the water to Starbase,” he continued. “They will also pay for and construct the improvements needed for BPUB to deliver water to the meter. This arrangement is intended to supersede the water hauling arrangement after SpaceX starts taking water through the meter. Timing is driven largely by SpaceX’s construction schedule.”
The potable water deliveries have been constrained by a 60,000 gallons per day cap under the current hauled-water purchase agreement between BPUB and SpaceX, according to a January 2024 letter from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The pipeline would change that, making it easier for SpaceX to build out more amenities and housing for employees.
For a handful of non-SpaceX affiliated homes, getting access to that water may come with some terms and conditions.
In July, nearly 40 properties along the stretch between Brownsville and Boca Chica were abruptly cut off from the county water service, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Cameron County previously delivered fresh water as a “courtesy” service to these properties, but the county now says it is Starbase’s responsibility to deliver water to these residents.
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Starbase disagrees: In July, Starbase city administrator Kent Myers reportedly sent a letter to a Cameron County commissioner saying the abrupt water cutoff “poses safety and public health risks.”
Starbase “has neither the legal authority nor operational capacity to deliver water to these residents,” Myers said.
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