CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx \u2014 An internal city document obtained by KRIS 6 News through a public information request shows Corpus Christi has revised its water supply targets downward and is seeking permission from the state to bypass its own water quality monitoring plan.<\/p>\n
The March 11 document<\/a> \u2014 an abbreviated water overview sent to the State Legislative Delegation by Ryan Skrobarczyk, the city’s Director of Intergovernmental Relations \u2014 was described as “a simplified version of our weekly memo that outlines the most immediate new supply projects with the state permits we are waiting on.”<\/p>\n The urgency behind that description is underscored by a text message also obtained by KRIS 6 News through a public information request. In it, Skrobarczyk privately wrote to State Rep. Denise Villalobos: “Rep, we need permits. And permit modifications. There isn’t anything that happens fast enough. Without those.”<\/p>\n City officials had previously told KRIS 6 News<\/a> the city needed 60 million gallons of new water per day before November 2026 to avoid a Level One water emergency.<\/p>\n The document puts the target differently. It says the city must replace 50 million gallons per day with alternative supplies \u2014 and warns that a projected 10% reduction by the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, expected as early as April 20, could push the gap to approximately 54 million gallons per day. A possible second 10% cut later this summer could widen it further.<\/p>\n Given the potential for the Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi reservoirs to be fully depleted under the worst-case forecasts in early summer, the City of Corpus Christi must replace 50 MGD of water with alternative water supplies. This assumes there is no cut to the water under the LNRA Drought Contingency Plan. If the LNRA enacts the projected April 20, 2026, reduction of 10% then the gap in water supply increases by approximately 4 MGD, with the potential for another 10% (total of 20% reduction) this summer. The following groundwater projects will bring an additional 40 MGD this year which will limit use of the western reservoirs and provide an opportunity for their recovery.<\/p>\n City of Corpus Christi memo<\/p>\n The document projects 40 million gallons per day in new water coming online across all of 2026. But a closer look at the numbers shows that the figure is largely dependent on outcomes the city does not control.<\/p>\n Of that 40 million gallons per day, 17 million gallons \u2014 the entire Nueces County Western Well Field \u2014 cannot be delivered without the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approving a bed and banks permit. In a text to council this month<\/a>, Zanoni wrote that several people have objected to that permit, and that the best-case scenario for approval is May \u2014 though it could take longer depending on the number of objections. The Ed Rachal Foundation property’s 9 million gallons per day is tied to that same permit. If it is delayed, both projects stall together.<\/p>\n Another 4 million gallons per day projected from the Evangeline project by November 2026 faces a separate and more advanced legal obstacle. The document states that projection assumes “no contested case hearing” on the San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District permits. As KRIS 6 News previously reported<\/a>, those permits are already in a legal hearing process after the City of Sinton and St. Paul Water Supply Corporation filed formal protests \u2014 a process that is already underway.<\/p>\n The Nueces County Eastern Well Field, which is already producing 4 million gallons per day, is designed to produce 10 million gallons per day. The document says the city has applied to TCEQ for an emergency order to unlock the remaining 6 million gallons per day. If that emergency order is granted, the Eastern Well Field’s full 10 MGD would bring the city’s total new supply to 40 million gallons per day in 2026. That figure still falls well short of the city’s stated gap of 50 million gallons per day, before accounting for potential LNRA cuts.<\/p>\n In sum: virtually every gallon in the city’s 2026 projection requires either a new permit approval, a permit modification, or a favorable legal outcome in a proceeding that has already begun. Even under the most optimistic scenario \u2014 in which all permits are granted and no legal hearings delay Evangeline \u2014 the document’s own numbers leave a significant gap between projected supply and the city’s stated need.<\/p>\n At Friday’s briefing, City Manager Peter Zanoni was asked directly whether the projected new supply is enough to avoid curtailment. He did not answer the question directly.<\/p>\n “The simple math is we’re trying to replace 70 million gallons,” Zanoni said, referring to what the western reservoirs once produced at full capacity. “We have 76 million gallons of new water sources.”<\/p>\n He was referring to the full buildout of all projects \u2014 a figure the document shows will not be reached until 2028 at the earliest.<\/p>\n The Eastern Well Field is already falling short<\/p>\n The document reveals the Eastern Well Field \u2014 the city’s first Nueces County groundwater project \u2014 has been producing just 4 million gallons per day against a permitted capacity of 10 million gallons per day.<\/p>\n Zanoni confirmed on Friday why.<\/p>\n “Because of the management plan that we have for water quality on salt, on TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), we’re not able to put 10 million in, and we haven’t been for the past couple of months,” he said.<\/p>\n The city has applied to TCEQ for an emergency order to unlock the remaining 6 million gallons per day. The document argues that the higher-TDS water from the wells would actually be beneficial \u2014 saying the increased volume “will dilute the arsenic in the system” as the reservoirs continue to deplete.<\/p>\n As KRIS 6 News previously reported<\/a>, residents near city well outflows along the Nueces River have recorded TDS readings more than five times the federal drinking water standard. Downstream, TDS levels at the treatment plant serving Robstown more than doubled from a 15-year average of around 700 to approximately 1,500. <\/p>\n The monitoring bypass request<\/p>\n The document states that once TCEQ issues the Nueces County Western Well Field bed and banks permit, “City staff will apply for a special condition that allows the city to bypass the monitoring plan in the event of reservoirs being below 10% combined capacity.”<\/p>\n Those reservoirs have already fallen below 10 percent combined capacity and are currently at a combined capacity of 8.5 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n The monitoring plan the city wants to bypass is the same type of water quality safeguard that is currently preventing the Eastern Well Field from running at full capacity. The city is asking TCEQ to ensure that restriction cannot be applied to the Western Well Field under drought conditions.<\/p>\n