(This story was updated to add new information.)
A vote on the Inner Harbor desalination plant is likely to be pushed back by about a month from its initially scheduled date of April 28, according to Corpus Christi officials.
That’s because additional environmental research into desalination’s impacts on the bay system may be delayed.
Known as a far-field model, the study evaluates a potential desalination plant’s effects on salinity and temperature for the entirety of the bay system — an expansion from a previous study under a different contractor that limited the geographic area to the ship channel.
The new initiative had been part of the pitch in the fall to revisit the Inner Harbor project, which had been halted in September with the termination of a contract for the plant’s design.
This rendering of the proposed Inner Harbor seawater desalination plant shows pressurized sand filters, cartridge filters and the reverse osmosis membrane building, as described by Efrain Rodriguez, vice president of business development at Acciona Aqua Corporation.
It is intended to help address concerns in the community, and among some City Council members, that there had not been sufficient analysis to determine harm or protection of the bay’s ecosystem, if a plant were constructed.
The delay stems from the loss of Jordan Furnans, Spheros Environmental’s modeler who had been lead on the project, according to city documents.
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He is no longer employed at the company, states an April 15 draft memo, and another modeler is planned to take on the project.
Furnans had said a preliminary report on the findings could be produced in time for the council to review prior to taking a vote on a $979 million contract for the plant’s development, expected for April 28.
It was believed that enough data would be available for the council to make an informed decision, although the full report was not expected to be ready until June.
The company has requested an additional 30 days to complete an initial draft, wrote City Manager Peter Zanoni in an April 15 message to the Caller-Times.
“We will be discussing with them this (request) and shorter extensions,” he wrote.
Several City Council members have aired concerns about approving a contract for the plant’s development without information from the study.
It’s currently planned that Spheros will present the study’s findings and make recommendations in a council meeting scheduled for June 2, according to a city memo.
A vote on the Inner Harbor contract is expected to go before the council the same day, it shows.
Kirsten Crow covers city government and water news. Have a story idea? Contact her at kirsten.crow@caller.com.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Delay in environmental study likely to push back desalination vote