City\u2019s shrinking water supply.<\/a><\/p>\nThe 2,400-acre property sits along Highway 624 near Farm-to-Market Road 666. If approved, it would become the City\u2019s third water rights site along the Nueces River, allowing groundwater to be pumped from an underground aquifer and discharged directly into the river.<\/p>\n
City Manager Peter Zanoni said the investment only makes sense if the well field can produce between 10 and 20 million gallons of water per day enough to help offset losses from the City\u2019s two western reservoirs.<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi Water Chief Operating Officer Nick Winkleman said preliminary hydrological studies are already underway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re doing some initial studies to better identify locations for wells on the property and having our hydrogeologist look at potential yield,\u201d Winkleman said.<\/p>\n
The site already includes six existing wells drilled by the property\u2019s current owners. According to Zanoni, each well is capable of producing up to one million gallons of water per day.<\/p>\n
Some City Council members, however, are raising concerns about the impact on surrounding communities.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn questioned whether enough research has been done to ensure nearby residents, farmers and ranchers won\u2019t be affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to take into consideration the people who live out there, the farmers, the ranchers, the whole community,\u201d Vaughn said. \u201cThey depend on groundwater. What studies have been done? Because I haven\u2019t seen anything that tells me they can just go and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilman Roland Barrera echoed those concerns but said the project is not intended as a long-term fix.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just a temporary solution,\u201d Barrera said. \u201cWe\u2019re applying for bed and banks permits and looking to diversify our water sources. This one has more certainty than other projects and could provide consistent water until desalination comes online.\u201d<\/p>\n
The property is located next to the City\u2019s western well field, where pipeline construction is finally underway. Crews are installing underground pipes that will eventually carry water to the Nueces River.<\/p>\n
City officials also confirmed they expect a full cost estimate for the City\u2019s second Inner Harbor desalination project within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
City Council is scheduled to vote on the water rights proposal Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City officials say a proposed $28 million water rights purchase along the Nueces River depends on whether wells…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-157830","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-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157830","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=157830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}