{"id":259685,"date":"2026-04-21T16:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/259685\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:09:09","slug":"corpus-christi-leaders-weigh-how-to-reduce-customers-water-use-amid-growing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/259685\/","title":{"rendered":"Corpus Christi leaders weigh how to reduce customers\u2019 water use amid growing crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corpus Christi is preparing for a water emergency that could come by September and city council leaders on Tuesday plan to discuss how the city could restrict water use for residents, businesses and industry. <\/p>\n

Corpus Christi\u2019s water customers \u2014 ranging from households to oil refineries \u2014 may be asked to reduce use by 25%, according to a presentation from the city\u2019s water department the city council will consider in Tuesday\u2019s workshop. The city\u2019s current plan<\/a> starts with a 5% reduction in water use during a water emergency.<\/p>\n

City council members have to approve the final plan to curtail water use amid an ongoing drought that has caused the city\u2019s main reservoirs \u2014 Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir \u2014 to drop to just 8% of their capacity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

City leaders are preparing for the possibility of a stage 1 emergency \u2014 the point when the city\u2019s supply is projected to be 180 days away from falling short of demand \u2014 happening in September if there\u2019s no significant rainfall and their allotment from Lake Texana, another key reservoir, is curtailed due to the drought. <\/p>\n

The proposal to reduce water use by 25% was first reported by Inside Climate News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The city, which is depending on a patchwork of temporary solutions<\/a> to meet demand, is under pressure to finalize an emergency plan and find new sources of water. Its water system serves 300,000 residents and local businesses, along with 200,000 others across seven counties. The drought has coincided with a years-long effort by city leaders to attract refineries and other industry to the Corpus Christi Bay, driving up water demand. <\/p>\n

Those industrial facilities now consume as much as 60% of the city\u2019s water supply, according to local officials. <\/p>\n

The water department\u2019s recommendations include adding surcharges to customers\u2019 water bills if they use more than a set amount. For example, residential customers would have to pay an additional $4 for every 1,000 gallons they use after hitting a 7,000-gallon monthly threshold. Commercial customers, such as hotels and restaurants, would have to pay the same surcharge after using 55,000 gallons. <\/p>\n

Violations would be considered a Class C misdemeanor, subject to a $500 fine. A second violation would risk having water cut off by the city for at least one billing cycle. <\/p>\n

Industrial customers of the city\u2019s water have the option of buying into a drought surcharge exemption fee<\/a> that City Manager Peter Zanoni has referred to as an \u201cinsurance program.\u201d These large-volume users can sign up to add an additional fee to their water bill \u2014 31 cents for every 1,000 gallons \u2014 to avoid additional fees during a water crisis. <\/p>\n

Zanoni said about 10 companies have bought into the program. The funds collected from the exemption fee, he said, has generated about $6 million a year for the past eight years, which has been used for water-related development projects. <\/p>\n

Industrial customers that don\u2019t pay the exemption fee, according to the city\u2019s water department\u2019s presentation, would have to pay an additional $12 for every 1,000 gallons used after 12,842,000 gallons. <\/p>\n

Under a stage 1 emergency, residents would also be prohibited from using water to wash vehicles, boats and trailers. They would also not be allowed to water landscaped areas, only potted plants. Pools, jacuzzis and hot tubs would not be allowed to be filled or refilled \u201cexcept to maintain structural integrity,\u201d according to the presentation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corpus Christi is preparing for a water emergency that could come by September and city council leaders on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,2327,5790,287,293,2646],"class_list":["post-259685","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-environment","tag-nueces-county","tag-politics","tag-texas-legislature","tag-water-supply"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259685","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=259685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}