More than 250 signatures were gathered as rural residents met at Rockin’ K Farms, urging state regulators to approve a groundwater conservation district.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A strong turnout at Rockin’ K Farms Tuesday night as residents from Nueces and surrounding counties gathered to talk about the future of the Evangeline Aquifer — a resource they say is being unfairly tapped by the city of Corpus Christi.
The community is petitioning for the creation of a Groundwater Conservation District to provide oversight over how that water is used and regulated.
The petition needed 50 signatures to move forward with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Organizers say they received more than 250.
“We submitted our paperwork back on September second. We’re working through the process,” said Nueces County resident Kelly Harlan, talking about the effort many are taking part in to protect their limited water supply.
Tuesday night, many gathered at Rockin’ K Farms to talk water. City and county leaders attended the event to hear both sides of the argument. Harlan says the answer to their problem is the creation of a groundwater conservation district.
“We saw a need out there, we saw the rural residents being exploited. And that’s why we started this,” he said.
Harlan says while he understands the area’s water situation as a whole, the needs of the city and rural communities are vastly different.
“People out here they don’t have city water. People on County Road 73 next to the wells, the only water they have is well water. And you have the city with the big straw sitting right on their property line, sucking a lot of water all at once,” he said.
Corpus Christi District 3 Councilmember Eric Cantu says the Evangeline Aquifer isn’t a long-term fix, but it’s one of the handful of options currently on the table.
“This water is just supposed to be for emergency use for now, right, we’re just supposed to use this water for a few years, till we get another project in line. But we do need to meet with them and figure out where we can meet in the middle,” he said.
Harlan says that’s time residents in Nueces County might not be able to afford.
“And these guys they’re just not gonna have any water and we’re going to have to do something about it and right now we have a big bullseye on us,” he said.
Harlan says they’re waiting for the TCEQ to deem the petition administratively complete. After that, he says, a confirmation election could happen by next November.