Lake Corpus Christi is drying up and small towns are feeling it<\/a><\/p>\nCouncil members first approved a $169 million contract with the Evangeline Water Group to purchase groundwater rights near Sinton. City Manager Peter Zanoni said the total project cost is expected to reach \u201cright around $370 million\u201d once the city constructs the wells, pipelines and other infrastructure needed to deliver up to 24 million gallons a day. The first water is expected to flow in late 2026, when the city plans to stop drawing from Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir.<\/p>\n
That vote passed 7-1, with Councilman Roland Barrera opposed and Councilman Mark Scott absent.<\/p>\n
Later Tuesday, the council approved a $2.7 million nonrefundable reservation fee with the Nueces River Authority to reserve up to 50 million gallons per day from a proposed desalination facility on Harbor Island. The measure passed 5-3, with Mayor Paulette Guajardo and Councilmembers Sylvia Campos and Barrera voting against it.<\/p>\n
Zanoni said he believes the partnership with the NRA will be positive for the city. \u201cWe\u2019ll have a good relationship with the Nueces River Authority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Mayor Guajardo said she doesn\u2019t believe there is enough information to move forward. She and Barrera both cited the lack of a business plan and questioned the timeline for the Harbor Island project.<\/p>\n
Guajardo said she was told the plant could be operational by December 2029 but noted that NRA Executive Director John Byrum initially gave her a 2031 estimate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for your comments; we take them to heart,\u201d Byrum said in response.<\/p>\n
When Guajardo asked whether the authority planned to sell water to Coastal Bend industrial customers, Byrum said, \u201cI do not want to sell water in the Coastal Bend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe answer has not been \u2018no,\u2019\u201d Guajardo replied. \u201cThe answer is \u2018I don\u2019t want to.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Kaylynn Paxton supported the reservation, saying it made sense to act now while the opportunity was available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we get to that point where we’re actually signing a water contract, we can reevaluate,\u201d Paxton said. \u201cBut to me, it’s important to take as much water as possible under reservation because we have more to work with, whereas once we get the project online, if we determine we needed more, it may or may not be available.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn added that she was willing to trust the NRA\u2019s commitment. \u201cYou have said from the beginning you will not sell to our customers,\u201d Vaughn said. \u201cI’m going to trust you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vote doesn\u2019t guarantee the city will receive desalinated water, but it does secure a place in line should the project move forward.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, officials in Sinton, where the Evangeline wells will be located, said they\u2019re still seeking stronger communication from Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n
Sinton City Manager John Hobson said the agreement reassures his city that Corpus Christi will be responsible for any impacts the new wells may cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really change much for us,” Hobson said. “It lets us know that the City of Corpus Christi will mitigate any problems that they cause with the wells, but it doesn\u2019t change our focus on the overall project.”<\/p>\n
Hobson said communication from Corpus Christi had been \u201cvery little,\u201d though he believes that will improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe city manager has committed to being more persistent with communication,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also said he is working with Zanoni to coordinate a town hall meeting in San Patricio County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they should absolutely spend more time in San Patricio County,\u201d Hobson said. \u201cMr. Zanoni had talked about having a town hall meeting in Sinton, and we\u2019re working to coordinate that with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hobson said his city remains cautious but committed to what\u2019s best for residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf for some reason the wells for the Evangeline project disrupt our wells, the City of Corpus Christi is financially responsible based on this interlocal agreement to fix it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna continue with this project, and we\u2019re not necessarily supporting it, but we\u2019re gonna move forward with what\u2019s best for our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facing critical lake levels, Corpus Christi leaders back the $169M Evangeline deal and a $2.7M Nueces River Authority…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-15076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15076","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=15076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}