A sharp war of words has erupted between the governor\u2019s office <\/a>and Corpus Christi leaders over the city\u2019s growing water concerns and whether the state could step in to take control.<\/p>\nDuring recent remarks, Greg Abbott criticized how the city handled funding meant to address its water supply challenges.<\/p>\n
Abbott said the state provided hundreds of millions of dollars meant to help the Coastal Bend secure its water future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe provided them with $750 million, three-quarters of a billion dollars in funding for them to address their water problem,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cYou know what they did? They squandered it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Corpus Christi City Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn quickly pushed back, saying the governor\u2019s claim is misleading.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Governor Abbott, you did not give us $750 million or $200 million,\u201d Vaughn said. \u201cWe are having to pay that back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbott also warned the state could intervene if the city fails to secure enough water for residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can only give them a little time more before the state of Texas has to take over and micromanage that city and run that city to make sure every resident who goes to the water tap and turns it on they\u2019re going to be getting water out of their faucets,\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n
Vaughn called the threat inappropriate and said the city has been actively working on solutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cShame on him that a governor would come in and say you\u2019re going to take over a city because of an inaction when we actually have had action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nTensions Inside City Hall <\/p>\n
Vaughn also placed blame closer to home, pointing to city leadership including Mayor Paulette Guajardo.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor Paulette Guajardo, the city manager and the previous council are the reason why we are where we are right now,\u201d Vaughn said.<\/p>\n
Guajardo rejected the criticism, saying the city has been working with state and federal partners to address long-term water supply challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome have suggested that our water challenges are the result of a lack of leadership and I have to respectfully disagree,\u201d Guajardo said. \u201cLeadership means rolling up your sleeves and working with our state and federal partners and advancing real projects that bring water to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nLegal Questions About a State Takeover <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, State Representative Denise Villalobos said her office is reviewing whether the state actually has the authority to step in.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a legal standpoint, I don\u2019t know how much the state is able to get involved until an emergency is called,\u201d Villalobos said. \u201cCity Council has been doing everything they can within the water department to get as many projects rolling and off the burner as they possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWater Projects in the Works <\/p>\n
City leaders say multiple projects are underway to address future water shortages.<\/p>\n
Councilman Gil Hernandez pointed to the western well fields, which are still awaiting state permits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt still has a higher TDS than we would like, but it\u2019s just enough to hold us over until we can develop some of these other projects,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted additional efforts, including the Evangeline groundwater project and wastewater reuse systems for major industries such as Valero and Flint Hills.<\/p>\n
Councilman Roland Barrera said the city still has time to correct course.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would think that we still have the opportunity to solve the problems, but you\u2019re going to have to have serious folks that are interested in solving problems instead of just trying to placate to an audience,\u201d Barrera said.<\/p>\n
With the Coastal Bend\u2019s water future at stake, the political fight over responsibility and solutionsappears far from over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Councilwoman calls governor\u2019s remarks \u201cshameful” after he said indecision in City Council led to the City’s current water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-200653","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\/200653","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=200653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}