State funding boosts Corpus Christi water projects as Inner Harbor desal plan returns<\/a><\/p>\nAt least one city leader confirmed new preliminary estimates for the Evangeline Groundwater Project in Sinton came in higher than anticipated, \u00a0though officials say the numbers are still being reviewed and are not yet final.<\/p>\n
Councilman Mark Scott says he recently received a briefing on early cost projections but was cautioned not to rely on them just yet.<\/p>\n
“The numbers were so preliminary, we were told don’t even look at them,” Scott said. “But I think there’s a potential we could all be a little shocked when we see the final numbers.”<\/p>\n
The Evangeline project includes purchasing groundwater rights priced at about $169 million, along with building infrastructure such as wells, pipelines, storage tanks, and pump stations. Construction costs have previously been estimated between $200 million and $300 million, putting the overall project near or above $470 million.<\/p>\n
City Manager Peter Zanoni says the city recently received a new engineer’s probable cost estimate but staff is still reviewing and challenging those figures.<\/p>\n
“We’re still working with the 200 to 300 million range for construction while the team reviews the engineer’s estimate,” Zanoni said.<\/p>\n
Zanoni confirmed city staff expects to have a clearer number within the next couple of weeks, after reviewing assumptions with engineering firm Pape Dawson.<\/p>\n
Delays tied to permitting, agreements, and a temporary moratorium on water exports have also pushed the project timeline back. While the city is still aiming to have water flowing by November 2026, some council members now say that target may have been overly optimistic.<\/p>\n
Councilman Roland Barrera says concerns about cost volatility and timing have existed from the beginning.<\/p>\n
“I always felt we were overly optimistic,” Barrera said. “Now that we’re going through the process, we’re seeing where the bumps in the road really are.”<\/p>\n
Despite rising costs and delays, city leaders say the project remains critical as the region faces the possibility of water curtailment beginning in late 2026 if new supplies do not come online.<\/p>\n
“The numbers are the numbers,” Scott said. “We need the water.”<\/p>\n
City officials say once a reviewed and defensible cost estimate is finalized, it will be shared publicly with city council and the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evangeline water project cost may be far higher than anyone expected. CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A massive water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-93539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93539","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=93539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}