{"id":124853,"date":"2026-01-15T21:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/124853\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:34:09","slug":"rep-vicente-gonzalez-sounds-alarm-on-worsening-water-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/124853\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Vicente Gonzalez sounds alarm on worsening water conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, who represents the 34th Congressional District, is warning colleagues of worsening water conditions in South Texas, including water concerns in Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n

During a Member Day meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Gonzalez warned that declining lake levels pose a risk to the Port of Corpus Christi \u2014 a risk he said rises to the level of \u201cnational security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez sounds alarm on worsening water conditions<\/p>\n

The Port of Corpus Christi is the largest energy export gateway in the United States and the world\u2019s third-largest crude oil export port.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major impact and a national security issue for the country,\u201d Gonzalez told fellow committee members Wednesday. \u201cThis city (Corpus Christi), the small community cannot sustain this type of investment. We need the federal government to step in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investment Gonzalez is referring to is a desalination plant. “These projects will greatly improve South Texas\u2019 long-term water security and are an essential part of our region\u2019s drought-proof water strategy,” Gonzalez wrote in his written testimony.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Port<\/p>\n

Adam Beam<\/p>\n

The Port of Corpus Christi<\/p>\n

In November, Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni recommended the city pursue a new approach to revive the controversial Inner Harbor Desalination Project. <\/a><\/p>\n

Corpus Christi officials warned Tuesday that the city\u2019s water supply is operating with little room to spare as lake levels decline, rainfall forecasts weaken and key groundwater projects<\/a> are not yet online.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s council meeting, showed Lake Texana already sits below last year\u2019s levels. Projections indicate the reservoir could drop to about 50% by early spring, while water supply and demand are expected to remain closely matched for months at a time.<\/p>\n

WATCH REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ’S FULL TESTIMONY HERE:<\/p>\n

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez speaks on water conditions before Congress<\/p>\n

All of this on top of the November 2026 deadline, when the next trigger point occurs when the entire water supply system reaches 180 days from the point at which total water supply would no longer meet total water demand and a Level 1 Water Emergency would be enacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need potable water for the community and population of Corpus Christi and we also need the water resources to ensure we can export energy to the world and sustain our economic viability for the region,” Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

For the latest local news updates, click here<\/a>, or download the KRIS 6 News App. <\/a><\/p>\n

Catch all the KRIS 6 News stories and more on our YouTube page<\/a>. Subscribe today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, who represents the 34th Congressional District, is warning colleagues of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,2950,157,156,10904,53989,17418,6658,4126,41388,33440,53990],"class_list":{"0":"post-124853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-city-council","10":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","11":"tag-corpus-christi-news","12":"tag-corpus-christi-water","13":"tag-corpus-desal","14":"tag-desal","15":"tag-kris-6","16":"tag-kris-6-news","17":"tag-kris-6-running-dry","18":"tag-running-dry","19":"tag-texas-desal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}