{"id":664182,"date":"2026-03-18T10:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/664182\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:18:17","slug":"corpus-christi-water-emergency-could-be-two-months-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/664182\/","title":{"rendered":"Corpus Christi water emergency could be two months away"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

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

Corpus Christi leaders on Tuesday unveiled new projections suggesting that the city could be just two months away from triggering emergency water measures.<\/p>\n

At a marathon city council meeting that stretched for 10 hours, Nick Winkelmann, interim chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, outlined five potential scenarios \u2014 two of which would push the city into a level one water emergency by May. At that point, the city\u2019s water supply would be projected to fall short of demand within 180 days.<\/p>\n

When pressed by council member Kaylynn Paxson on which scenario the city is preparing to follow, staffers at the water utility said they expect to narrow the possibilities down to two or three in the coming weeks as more data becomes available.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott <\/a>\u2014 who sharply criticized Corpus Christi leaders<\/a> for their handling of the crisis recently \u2014 has ordered agencies to suspend normal procedures in an effort to buy the city more time.<\/p>\n

Complicating the outlook are bleak seasonal forecasts. Projections from the National Weather Service show little to no rainfall expected between July and September, limiting inflows to key reservoirs that supply the city, including Choke Canyon, Lake Corpus Christi and Lake Texana. <\/p>\n

Despite the mounting concerns, the city has not finalized a curtailment plan that would lay out how much \u2014 and how soon \u2014 residents and businesses would have to reduce their water use. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get to the point where we have to declare a level one water emergency, we need to be ready for that and we have no precedent to follow and we have no there\u2019s no manual, there\u2019s no video, there\u2019s no, \u2018This is how we did it the last time,\u2019 \u201d City Manager Peter Zanoni told the council, adding that a curtailment plan could take weeks or months to finalize and implement. <\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s meeting marked the culmination of a crisis that has been years in the making<\/a>. For a decade, Corpus Christi has aggressively courted large companies to build refineries, natural gas export terminals and other industrial facilities along Corpus Christi Bay while promising the city would have sufficient water to meet the expected demand.<\/p>\n

Much of that confidence hinged on a planned seawater desalination plant that was supposed to deliver 30 million gallons of water per day by 2028 \u2014 most of it destined for industrial customers. But when the city council killed the project last year amid public opposition to its rising cost and potential environmental impacts on the bay, it upended the city\u2019s long-term water planning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

City leaders are now hoping to restart the desalination project, which received more than $750 million in low-interest loans from the Texas Water Development Board.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, one model projected<\/a> that the city\u2019s water supply could drop below expected demand as soon as June 2027, at which point the water system would not be able to move water to customers.<\/p>\n

The city recently boosted production from its primary water pipeline that pulls from Lake Texana and the Colorado River, increasing capacity by 24 million gallons per day, even as a deepening drought threatens to cut off that extra water. <\/p>\n

Under the drought plan<\/a> for the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, which operates the lake, when the lake reaches 50% capacity, the agency must reduce customers\u2019 water supply by 10%. The reservoir is currently at 54% of capacity.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office Friday ordered the river authority to change that trigger point to 40% to guarantee more water to the city. The authority is meeting on Wednesday to make that change, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, several major water infrastructure projects remain months or even years away from completion, leaving a critical gap as water demand continues to climb.<\/p>\n

To close that gap, the city has turned to drilling wells in two fields in rural Nueces County<\/a> that are expected to produce up to 26 million gallons daily once fully operational. One field is completed and another has some wells ready to operate soon, but is awaiting a permit<\/a> from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.<\/p>\n

Corpus Christi officials say the delays could push the city toward a water emergency sooner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing holding us up is a piece of paper,\u201d Zanoni, the city manager, said at a Friday press conference.<\/a><\/p>\n

On Friday, Abbott directed the TCEQ to fast-track temporary permits and loosen certain regulatory requirements to accelerate the city\u2019s drilling projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorpus Christi is an important economic driver not only for Texas but also the nation,\u201d said Andrew Mahaleris, the governor\u2019s press secretary. \u201cThe State of Texas is committing significant investments to ensure Corpus Christi has the water resources it needs to serve citizens. The Governor is further stepping in and has waived regulations to ensure TCEQ can issue temporary permits on an expedited basis \u2014 while still preserving public input.\u201d<\/p>\n

TCEQ did not immediately comment on whether those permits have been issued. <\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s meeting, the council also voted to accelerate the second well drilling project \u2014 despite not yet having the permits needed to pump. <\/p>\n

The Evangeline groundwater project would include 24 wells and is projected to produce about 24 million gallons of water per day from neighboring San Patricio County. It could be finished online by 2028<\/a>, according to a city memo. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking a calculated risk and continuing the design and we\u2019re going to build,\u201d Zanoni told council members. \u201cWe\u2019re going to start building the project in about five weeks, without the permits, without the drilling permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials say the design for the project is about 60% complete and the wells could deliver roughly 4 million gallons of water per day by November, though that timeline depends heavily on when the city receives permits to start pumping.<\/p>\n

City officials acknowledged their action could face legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The local groundwater district initially approved the city\u2019s well permits in San Patricio County, but when the city of Sinton<\/a> and two other parties contested them, the permits were put on hold until there\u2019s an administrative hearing. No date has been set for that hearing,<\/a> which Corpus Christi officials said could trigger a contested case that delays the project by up to two years.<\/p>\n

The city of Sinton and San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District did not immediately reply to comment on the city\u2019s decision to move forward. <\/p>\n

Zanoni defended the aggressive timeline and financial risk on Tuesday, saying the project is critical to avoiding water restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only thing right now that\u2019ll keep us out of a level one water emergency,\u201d he said. \u201cSo yes, it\u2019s expensive, but it\u2019s the only thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo echoed that urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need this water, we cannot let it go,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to move this forward and hope for the best and do everything we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council member Rolando Barrera questioned whether the city is committing too much money to a project that is not guaranteed to move forward. Council member Mark Scott raised similar concerns about moving ahead without permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heartburn is that I thought it was a no-brainer to get these permits,\u201d Scott said. \u201cNow I\u2019m walking the plank \u2026 about to spend, how much money, based on the assumption that we\u2019re going to get those permits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council unanimously approved moving forward with construction \u2014 earmarking nearly $190 million for it \u2014 and also voted to spend $170 million on land that comes with groundwater rights. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little scary,\u201d said council member Gil Hernandez, \u201cbut we\u2019re in a situation where we should be afraid right now.\u201d<\/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":3,"featured_media":664183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[4651,746,250779,275885,159,67,132,68,36656,168943],"class_list":{"0":"post-664182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-nueces-county","11":"tag-san-patricio-county","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us","16":"tag-water-supply","17":"tag-well-a-homepage"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116249670808088590","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}