As Corpus Christi works on securing federal funding for the Inner Harbor desal plant, the Regional Water Planning Group continues shaping state-backed water plans.<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Corpus Christi could soon receive federal funding for its proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant, as local leaders say they expect an update from Washington D.C. next month.<\/p>\n
While the city waits on potential federal dollars, regional leaders are already working on long-term water planning that could rely on state funding.<\/p>\n
The Coastal Bend Regional Water Planning Group met in Robstown Thursday to begin crafting a new five-year water plan. The group includes community members with a variety of backgrounds, such as water officials, city and county representatives, as well as agriculture and industry experts.<\/p>\n
Officials say the plan will serve as a roadmap for water projects across the Coastal Bend over the next five years, beginning in 2027 or 2028.<\/p>\n
The renewed focus comes after President Donald Trump told 3NEWS that Corpus Christi would receive federal help to fund the Inner Harbor Desalination Plant. Now, city leaders say that support may be nearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntelligence coming in from D.C. says that we should hear something soon. We’re hopeful. We’ve heard several promises that have lapsed but I think they’re saying something like mid-May, we may hear something in mid-May,\u201d City Manager Peter Zanoni said.<\/p>\n
Zanoni said funding for the Coastal Bend’s water would go beyond the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cCorpus Christi and communities in San Patricio County make fuels and products like plastics and steel used internationally,\u201d Zanoni said.<\/p>\n
Until federal funding is secured, local leaders say they are continuing to build a long-term strategy for the region\u2019s water supply.<\/p>\n
During the Coastal Bend Regional Water Planning Group’s meeting Thursday, the group discussed the first steps of creating the region’s new five-year water plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny project that’s gonna be funded or be eligible for funding from the state from the Water Development Board has to be mentioned and written up in this plan,\u201d said John Chisholm, Deputy Executive Director of the Nueces River Authority.<\/p>\n
Chisholm said the process is part of the Texas Water Development Board’s bottom-up approach to water planning, focused on local entities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe group today did hire the consulting engineer who’ll be doing a lot of the technical work on it for us. Yeah, it’s a long process, you know, trying to get all these things together and compiled, and sort of vetted out. So yes, it can take over a year,\u201d Chisholm said.<\/p>\n
Esteban Ramos, a board member who represents Corpus Christi Water, said the region\u2019s current drought conditions are shaping the urgency of the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe group is aware of our current situation with the drought that we are in currently and that the entire region understands how important it is to plan for today and into the future,\u201d Ramos said.<\/p>\n
Officials said the plan will also look well beyond the next five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the things that we’re looking at here are 20, 30, even 50 years out,\u201d Chisholm said. \u201cThere’s a very sizable gap in what water supply we have today and the water supply we’re gonna need 30 years from now. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s meeting marked the first step in the process. The planning group is expected to host public meetings in November, where community members can weigh in on what they think should be included in the new plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Corpus Christi works on securing federal funding for the Inner Harbor desal plant, the Regional Water Planning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-274009","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\/274009","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=274009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}