CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Rural residents are calling on Corpus Christi city leaders to protect their wells and the river they depend on as the city moves forward with its emergency water wells along the Nueces River.<\/p>\n
At a public meeting Thursday at Grace United Methodist Church, residents voiced concerns about the city\u2019s new emergency wells, which are expected to supply 11 million gallons of water a day. <\/p>\n
City Manager\u00a0Peter Zanoni\u00a0and\u00a0Corpus Christi Water Interim Chief Operating Officer Nick Winkelmann\u00a0attended the meeting to answer questions and address residents\u2019 fears.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want damaged wells. Please protect us,\u201d one resident told the group, echoing the concerns of many who live along the river.<\/p>\n
Another resident, who lives about 150 yards from the river, said he has already noticed changes. \u201cMy well hangs at 80 feet, and I\u2019m already seeing salinity start to show,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
City officials emphasized that the new wells are a temporary measure to help manage the ongoing drought. Zanoni said the city is working with a hydrogeologist to ensure both the wells and nearby water sources remain protected.\u201cWe are using the best hydrogeologist in the state. He is guiding us to make the right decisions,\u201d Zanoni said. \u201cWe know how important this is to your livelihood \u2014 and to us as individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help residents stay informed, Corpus Christi Water plans to post regular updates on the city\u2019s website, including data on river health and water quality.\u201cTDS data that we\u2019ve observed, also some surface water quality data from wells that we\u2019ve drilled,\u201d Winkelmann said, adding that the information should be available within two weeks.<\/p>\n
The updates, the city said, are part of a broader effort to keep the public informed as officials manage drought conditions across the region.<\/p>\n
But not everyone is convinced the wells aretemporary.\u00a0Chris Cuellar, an organizer behind the proposed\u00a0Nueces Groundwater Conservation District\u00a0\u2014 the first resident-led district in Nueces County \u2014 said the city\u2019s actions suggest otherwise.\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s the cheapest water, the easiest to obtain \u2014 and it\u2019ll always be the go-to when they sell another contract to industry,\u201d Cuellar said.<\/p>\n
He noted that the city\u2019s own groundwater district, the Corpus Christi Aquifer Storage and Recovery Conservation District, with city council backing, is petitioning to include the new wells within its boundaries \u2014 a move he said underscores the need for local oversight. \u201cThis is the reason GCDs exist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Zanoni said the city remains committed to collaboration. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to figure out this drought together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Rural residents are calling on Corpus Christi city leaders to protect their wells and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[6440,3029,155,157,156,10904,24156,18755,2904,1906],"class_list":{"0":"post-39279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-calallen","9":"tag-city-of-corpus-christi","10":"tag-corpus-christi","11":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","12":"tag-corpus-christi-news","13":"tag-corpus-christi-water","14":"tag-nueces-groundwater-conservation-district","15":"tag-nueces-river","16":"tag-peter-zanoni","17":"tag-suzanne-stevens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39279","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=39279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}