{"id":19098,"date":"2026-04-21T21:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19098\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:39:24","slug":"corpus-christi-weighs-water-curtailment-plan-amid-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19098\/","title":{"rendered":"Corpus Christi weighs water curtailment plan amid crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Corpus Christi prepares for a water emergency that could come by September, the city council on Tuesday weighed a proposal to require residents, businesses and industry to reduce water use by 25%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City council members will vote next Tuesday on the water curtailment proposal for the city\u2019s water customers. The city\u2019s current water curtailment plan<\/a> starts with a 5% reduction in water use during a water emergency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But an ongoing drought that has caused the city\u2019s main reservoirs \u2014 Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir \u2014 to drop to just 8% of their capacity<\/a> is forcing the city to consider more drastic measures.<\/p>\n

City leaders are preparing for the possibility of a stage 1 emergency \u2014 the point when the city\u2019s supply is projected to be 180 days away from falling short of demand \u2014 happening in September if there\u2019s no significant rainfall and their allotment from Lake Texana, another key reservoir, is curtailed due to the drought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to never get to this point,\u201d Nick Winklemann, chief operating officer of the city\u2019s water department, told the council. \u201cWe do not want to ever be in a situation where demand outpaces our supply.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The average residential customer uses around 7,000 gallons of water a month. A 25% reduction would give households 5,250 gallons per month, which about 30% of residential customers currently surpass, Winklemann said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Violations of the water limits would be a Class C misdemeanor, subject to a $500 fine. For a second violation, the city could cut off the customer\u2019s water for at least one billing cycle under the proposal \u2014 which Mayor Paulette Guajardo called extreme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI could never support that, to turn someone\u2019s water off,\u201d she said. Guajardo shared concerns that residents won\u2019t know when they surpass a certain amount of water, especially during summer when kids are spending more time at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we going to create a better way to help our residents know, I mean they can\u2019t be calling in every day saying \u2018What\u2019s my usage today?\u2019\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city, which is depending on a patchwork of temporary solutions<\/a> to meet demand, is under pressure to finalize an emergency plan and find new sources of water. Its water system serves 300,000 residents and local businesses, along with 200,000 others across seven counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The drought has coincided with a years-long effort by city leaders to attract refineries and other industry to the Corpus Christi Bay, driving up water demand. Those industrial facilities now consume as much as 60% of the city\u2019s water supply, according to local officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The water department\u2019s recommendations include adding surcharges to customers\u2019 water bills if they use more than a set amount. For example, the city\u2019s 91,000 residential customers would have to pay an additional $4 for every 1,000 gallons they use after hitting a 7,000-gallon monthly threshold \u2014 which 13% of customers currently surpass. Commercial customers, such as hotels and restaurants, would have to pay the same surcharge after using 55,000 gallons per month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some council members on Tuesday asked if the city could consider basing thresholds on customers\u2019 baseline water use, instead of a set limit across the board.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, commercial customers such as hospitals and schools would be able to apply for an exemption if they can show that the water limit risks public health, sanitation, or firefighting. Council members also discussed allowing households with bigger families to request a variance.<\/p>\n

Setting water thresholds for apartments is more complex, Winkelmann said, which is why the city plans to look into their water usage patterns and set their standards on a case-by-case basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Industrial customers of the city\u2019s water have the option of buying into a drought surcharge exemption fee<\/a> that City Manager Peter Zanoni has referred to as an \u201cinsurance program.\u201d These large-volume users can sign up to add an additional fee to their water bill \u2014 31 cents for every 1,000 gallons \u2014 to avoid additional fees during a water crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eight companies have bought into the program, including Valero, Citgo and Flint Hills Resources. The funds collected from the exemption fee, he said, has generated about $6 million a year for the past eight years, which has been used for water-related development projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Industrial customers that don\u2019t pay the exemption fee, according to the water department\u2019s presentation, would have to pay an additional $12 for every 1,000 gallons used after 12,842,000 gallons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under a stage 1 emergency, residents would also be prohibited from using water to wash vehicles, boats and trailers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI vehemently disagree with not being able to wash boats,\u201d Guajardo said, noting that the city hosted dozens of fishing tournaments last year. \u201cWe\u2019re a coastal community.\u201d<\/p>\n

They would also not be allowed to water landscaped areas, only potted plants. Pools, jacuzzis and hot tubs would not be allowed to be filled or refilled \u201cexcept to maintain structural integrity,\u201d according to the presentation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city is also planning on reducing operating hours of city pools and splash pads, which council member Eric Cantu said is \u201cthe wrong direction to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an issue here in Corpus Christi with gun violence with children, and I think we need to keep our children at safe places,\u201d Cantu said. \u201cI think that\u2019s just out of line. It\u2019s not the family\u2019s fault. It\u2019s not the resident\u2019s fault that we\u2019re in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council member Carolyn Vaughn disagreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be pretty, what we\u2019re going to have to do, we don\u2019t want to do it but everybody\u2019s going to have to make sacrifices,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Splash pads require around 300 gallons a day and the city\u2019s pools use up around 1.8 million gallons throughout the summer, according to city officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city will be hosting monthly information sessions for community members until September. The first session is scheduled for May 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city recently sold all of its stock of rain barrels, which residents can purchase for $47 to collect rainwater, and is expecting a delivery of 500 more barrels by next week.<\/p>\n

Alejandra Martinez contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3033,8,9,5392,7,3034,293],"class_list":{"0":"post-19098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-nueces-county","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-water-supply","14":"tag-well-a-homepage"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116444866971519107","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}