As Corpus Christi could face a water emergency in September, city leaders propose allocations and cuts for residential, commercial, wholesale and large-volume users.<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Corpus Christi could reach a Level one water emergency as soon as September, according to city officials during a recent council water workshop.<\/p>\n
City Manager Peter Zanoni said the updated timeline reflects new data in the city\u2019s water dashboard. The September estimate would place the city about six months away from water supply no longer meeting demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had two scenarios in our most recent dashboards that showed an October trigger date. So this is just one month sooner, based on updating some of the variables, most notably our well water in Nueces County, because of our water quality management program, we’re not able to discharge as much as we had hoped,\u201d Zanoni said. \u201cSo there’s a lot of variables with the system. This is the one that we want our residents to focus on.”<\/p>\n
Aside from the updated timeline, Corpus Christi Water officials outlined baseline usage, curtailment measures and proposed water allocations for different customer groups if a Level one emergency is declared.<\/p>\n
In general terms, officials discussed how much water various types of users, including residential, commercial and large-volume customers, may be allowed to use each month under those conditions.<\/p>\n
Mayor Paulette Guajardo said clear communication will be critical as the city considers these measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe residential is one classification, but then you have large volume users, you have commercial, you have wholesale, and so each one of those baselines will be created based on the class if you will,\u201d Guajardo said.<\/p>\n
Officials are proposing a 25 percent reduction in water usage across all categories if the city enters a Level one water emergency.<\/p>\n
Guajardo emphasized that residents remain a top priority for her as the city works through how to implement the changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to find a way without asking the resident to pay for it, for them to know, can I call in and know what my usage is? Are my kids home from college and therefore water usage goes up and then you get a $500 you know, citation. So we’re trying to work through all of those things,\u201d Guajardo said.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Kaylynn Paxson said many residents may already be within the proposed limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re talking about a baseline being 7,000 gallons a month and so look at what you’re already consuming. Look at maybe your last two or three bills. What our target is, it’s gonna be 5,250 gallons. A lot of our residential ratepayers are already conserving below that,\u201d Paxson said.<\/p>\n
Still, some households could see impacts if usage exceeds those targets. According to CCW Chief Operating Officer Nick Winkelmann said that about 27,000 homes could be at risk if the proposed allocations are triggered.<\/p>\n
Councilman Mark Scott said he wants the city to explore tools that would allow residents to monitor their water use in real time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a conversation with the city manager about implementing this new tool on your water meter that lets you check where you’re at in real time because that’s the issue. Nobody really knows where they’re at on their water usage until you get your bill. Well, if you’re already over now you’re in trouble, so we need to figure that out,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
City officials noted that curtailment and allocations would also apply to commercial and large-volume users, including refineries.<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi Water is expected to provide additional updates and details on allocations at upcoming City Council meetings on April 28 and May 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Corpus Christi could face a water emergency in September, city leaders propose allocations and cuts for residential,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-260333","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\/260333","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=260333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}