CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A proposed brackish groundwater deal that could bring up to 10 million gallons a day into Corpus Christi\u2019s water supply got its first public airing Tuesday \u2014 and raised immediate concerns about transparency and public oversight.<\/p>\n
The deal involves the South Texas Water Authority (STWA) and Seven Seas Water Group, a private company that already operates Texas\u2019 first public-private desalination plant in Alice. But unlike traditional public utility partnerships, STWA would not produce the water itself. Instead, it would purchase it directly from Seven Seas.<\/p>\n
STWA signed an agreement with the company in 2024. Under the plan, Seven Seas would initially supply 3 million gallons per day (MGD), with the potential to expand to 13 MGD if Corpus Christi joins the project \u2014 10 million gallons of which would be earmarked for the city.<\/p>\n
At-Large Councilman Mark Scott pressed for details about the existing contract<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really interested in the contract between you and Seven Seas, because that would affect our agreement with you,\u201d said Councilman Mike Scott. \u201cAre you publicly disclosing what you\u2019re paying for the water?\u201d<\/p>\n
STWA attorney Charlie Zahn said he couldn\u2019t publicly share those details.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time we get a request for documents involving Seven Seas, I have to go through their counsel for permission,\u201d Zahn told the council.<\/p>\n
The only documentation STWA presented was a water quality lab report from a test well near Driscoll \u2014 provided by Seven Seas. Corpus Christi Water\u2019s interim chief operating officer Nick Winkelmann said the report offered basic quality data but lacked key technical details.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt provides information on a number of water quality parameters,\u201d the official said. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t have is any type of well production info or overall site hydrology info.\u201d Winkelmann said.<\/p>\n
In Alice, Seven Seas\u2019 desalination plant operates under a 15-year agreement that ultimately transfers ownership to the city. But the STWA proposal could last anywhere from 30 to 60 years \u2014 with Corpus Christi never owning the plant.<\/p>\n
No vote was taken Tuesday. The issue is expected to return to council on October 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A proposed brackish groundwater deal that could bring up to 10 million gallons a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,2884,2885,1906],"class_list":["post-2261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-corpus-city-council","tag-seven-seas","tag-suzanne-stevens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261","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=2261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}