(Texas Scorecard) – As Corpus Christi’s reservoirs plunge to historic lows, city leaders are mired in political infighting over failed desalination plans, accusations of corruption, and mounting pressure from industry giants that say they cannot scale back water usage.
Corpus Christi is currently in stage 3 water restrictions, with Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir at a combined 12 percent storage level.
The next stage of the drought contingency plan, a Level 1 Water Emergency, requires large-volume and industrial users to curtail water consumption.
Bob Paulison, executive director of the Coastal Bend Industry Association, told KRIS 6 News that “some plants may have to shut down right away” during a Level 1 Water Emergency. The industrial sector doesn’t “have the ability to scale back” for water restrictions, he continued.
In a report published by the City of Corpus Christi earlier this year, over $57.4 billion has been invested across the metropolitan statistical area in the past decade. The Port of Corpus Christi is the world’s third-largest export port for crude oil and contributed $113 billion to gross domestic product and about 864,000 direct and indirect jobs to the Texas economy in 2024.
On October 3, the Corpus Christi City Council held a meeting to discuss water supply projects.
District 3 Councilman Eric Cantu claimed a former contractor for the Inner Harbor desalination project told him that some past politicians were “on the take.”
Cantu then addressed the mayor, “You were against Inner Harbor when it was $309 million, and now it’s $1.2 billion—and you want us to say yes to that? You said no back then.”
Corpus Christi officially scrapped a contract for the desalination project late last week, according to a local news outlet.
City Manager Peter Zanoni told the Caller Times that city officials submitted a letter to the Texas Water Development Board on Monday, asking if the loans granted for the desalination plant could be repurposed to a different water supply project.
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