A water emergency is brewing in Corpus Christi, Texas, where officials have warned it could become the first U.S. city to run dry by 2027.<\/p>\n
According to Inside Climate News<\/a>, city manager Peter Zanoni said in April that 25% water cuts were imminent in September, even though approximately 70% of homes were using less water than the city’s proposed restrictions. Since 2023, Corpus Christi has banned residents from watering their lawns.<\/p>\n The city also outlawed irrigation of sports fields under its drought management plan, the Caller-Times reported<\/a>. While this does save water, it also increases athletes’ risk of injury.<\/p>\n Additionally, speculation is swirling that school closures are on the horizon.<\/p>\n “Do we just call school closed?” Fire Chief Brandon Wade asked in March, per KRIS TV<\/a>. “Do we have bottled water?”<\/p>\n With residents pushed to their limits, Mayor Paulette Guajardo recoiled at the idea of taking away their water.<\/p>\n “I could never support that,” she said at an April 21 meeting, per ICN<\/a>.<\/p>\n The cuts have to come from somewhere, though.<\/p>\n Therein lies what ICN called<\/a> the “elephant in the room.” Corpus Christi may be best known for its status as the Sparkling City by the Sea<\/a>, but its appeal extends well beyond tourists. Its location along the Gulf is a key reason why it became a petrochemical hub, with its port the third-largest gateway<\/a> for crude oil exports globally.<\/p>\n In fact, ICN reported<\/a> that chemical plants, industrial facilities, and refineries account for more than 50% of the city’s water consumption. ExxonMobil, Valero, and Occidental are among the major companies that have not publicly shared how they plan to reduce their water use.<\/p>\n “It’s not going to be pretty,” City Councilmember Carolyn Vaughn, who co-owns an oil services company, said at the April 21 meeting, per ICN<\/a>. “Everybody’s going to have to make sacrifices.”<\/p>\n According to the Texas Real Estate Research Center, petrochemical facilities and industrial manufacturing have infused billions<\/a> into Corpus Christi’s economic pipeline.<\/p>\n As such, many fear they will be the ones making additional sacrifices while multibillion-dollar corporations run mostly unchecked<\/a> and suck the city’s reservoirs dry.<\/p>\n “Water for me, but not for thee \u2014 Exxon Mobile, probably,” a Reddit user posited<\/a>.<\/p>\n “You can drink as much as you like (after they’re done with it),” another said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A water emergency is brewing in Corpus Christi, Texas, where officials have warned it could become the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[16900,155,157,156,105264,410,8280],"class_list":["post-286905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-city-manager","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-drought-management-plan","tag-water","tag-water-consumption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286905","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=286905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}