Farmers fear Corpus Christi’s plan to draw from the Gulf Coast Aquifer could drain wells and worsen salinity as voters weigh a tax to fund a key water study.

SINTON, Texas — Corpus Christi city leaders have voted to purchase groundwater rights from the Evangeline Laguna Group, a group of landowners who own almost 23 million acres just north of Sinton for $169 million. 

The move is part of a broader effort to expand the city’s water supply, but it’s drawing concern from nearby communities, including the city of Sinton itself, which relies on existing wells in the same area for its own water.

RELATED: San Patricio County residents voice concerns over $169M groundwater deal

Local farmers who have depended on the aquifer for decades say they’re increasingly worried that Corpus Christi’s plan to draw water from that source could put their livelihoods at risk.

Both Charles Ring and Matt Setliff serve on the San Patricio County Groundwater Board and both irrigate their own farms using well water. They say the city’s new groundwater project, part of more than $170 million in water infrastructure improvements approved during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, could have lasting impacts on the region’s wells.

“I’m more concerned about water quality going down than I am the quantity of water that can be retrieved,” said Charles Ring, a member of the San Patricio County Groundwater Board. “We both irrigate. We’re both on the ground water board, and we do have a deep concern as to the quality of what we put on our crop, because as you pump these wells, they’re going to get saltier.”

Ring said that kind of salt intrusion has already hurt farmers in the area.

“One of our board members had a well go salty and it killed his corn crop … it can happen overnight,” Ring said.

Setliff added that similar problems have happened before and that some of those wells never fully recovered.

“The last time the City of Corpus pumped the wells along the river we lost three wells around my house that were good producing wells that are not in good production anymore,” Setliff said.

Ring said the groundwater board’s mission is not to stand in the city’s way, but to make sure any future use of the aquifer is sustainable.

“The groundwater district is here to help preserve long-term value here, in our water to make sure there’s water for my grandkids,” Ring said. “The only way to do that is through some sort of regulation, some sort of control. But we’re not here to prevent anybody from pumping water. We’re here to monitor it and make sure that nobody gets hurt.”

San Patricio County Judge David Krebs said those concerns highlight how little is still known about the aquifer and that the city should move carefully before beginning large-scale pumping.

“We don’t know that much about that aquifer. There never has been a study on that aquifer,” Krebs said. “How long can that be sustained at the rate we’re gonna be taking out of there? And if you start taking 23 million gallons of water a day out of that aquifer, how low will that pull the aquifer? We don’t know. We don’t know if it’s going to pull them down or not, but we need to do a study to make sure that we’re protecting those people that already have their wells.”

That study could soon become a reality. This November, San Patricio County voters will decide whether to approve a one-cent ad valorem tax, a small property tax that would give the Groundwater Board its first source of local funding to hire a full-time employee and pay for the much-needed research into the aquifer.

Corpus Christi officials say the aquifer project is part of the city’s long-term plan to diversify its water supply and prepare for future droughts. They add that the project won’t begin pumping until November 2026 at the earliest given the additional infrastructure needed, leaving many in the Coastal Bend, especially those in the city of Sinton, worried that both water and time are running out.