In dry South Texas, a years-long drought has so seriously depleted Corpus Christi’s water reserves that the city is scrambling to prevent shortages that could lead to painful population reductions and cripple refineries and petrochemical plants at a major energy port.
Experts said the city was not expecting such a bad drought, and new reliable water sources did not arrive as expected. These problems have emerged as the city has increased its water sales to large industrial customers.
“We haven’t been able to keep up with the water supply and water infrastructure as well as we should have,” said Peter Zanoni, city manager since 2019. “It took decades.”
The city of Corpus Christi, which has a population of about 317,000 and also supplies water to neighboring counties, is closely linked to the oil and gas industry. The region manufactures daily necessities such as fuel and steel and ships them around the world.
Zanoni said it was highly unlikely the city would run out of water, but without heavy rains or new sources, residents could face forced cuts and industry could be forced to rely on smaller amounts. At the time The Iran war is already raising gas pricesThe shortage reaches an area that produces 5% of the gasoline supply in the United States.
Droughts are common, but this has persisted for most of the past seven years. Major reservoirs are at all-time lows. The quickest solution is different weather.
“We’re actively praying for a tornado,” former City Councilman David Loeb joked. Loeb doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but having suffered previous droughts during his time on the council, he feels the lack of rain acutely.
The drought is not expected to ease by summer, leaving officials scrambling to tap more groundwater to avoid an emergency.
After the last drought in early 2010, the city agreed to extend a pipeline to bring more water from the Colorado River and promote environmental conservation. In the years since, water use has actually declined. The city saw the opportunity, adding a petrochemical plant and a steel mill to its long list of industrial clients.
City officials allowed drought to occur in their calculations, but not this kind of drought, Zanoni said. It was particularly badly damaged because the tanks had not been fully recharged after the last one.
It came at a bad time.
After many years, the pipeline extension finally reached full capacity only last year. Meanwhile, discuss the construction of A Water desalination plant A solution that would remove salt from seawater — a potentially drought-resistant solution recommended in 2016 — has faltered over concerns about costs of up to $1.3 billion and environmental impact.
“If the then City Council had followed through on this, we would have this plant in operation right now,” Zanoni said.
Corpus Christi has followed its established plan to reduce water use. The first phase seeks voluntary actions from citizens, such as shorter showers and limiting the number of irrigation times. Currently, the city is in Phase 3, which means a temporary halt to many outside water uses.
Isabel Arreaza, co-founder of a grassroots group active in water issues, said many residents are angry because they can’t water their lawns, that their bills are set to rise sharply and that they could face fines. Some don’t feel the industry will be asked to share in the pain, she said.
The city’s drought plan allows residents and businesses to be charged additional fees if they use too much water. But large industries, which Zanoni says consume up to 60% of the city’s water, can choose to pay a permanent surcharge to avoid potentially adding much larger fees in times of drought.
Ariza calls it a bad system. Once the industry pays the surcharge, it will have no incentive to conserve water, she said.
The city defended the system, saying in a statement that the industry “does not receive a permit for water conservation” or forced curtailment. The business surcharge raised $6 million annually, the statement said.
Bob Paulison, executive director of the Coastal Bend Industry Association, said it’s wrong to suggest the industry isn’t helping. He added that companies have stopped landscaping, are recycling water to meet basic cooling needs, and are looking for alternative sources of water.
The city has not imposed additional costs on anyone yet.
But Zanoni said water rates could eventually double as the city invests nearly $1 billion in infrastructure, costs that some say will disproportionately benefit the industry and make residents’ lives more expensive.
A city experiences a water emergency when it has 180 days before the water supply can no longer keep up with demand. Officials studied different scenarios for obtaining new water and mitigating the drought, and said the emergency could occur as early as May, as late as October, or not at all.
The city has tapped millions of gallons of new groundwater, and hopes to get more.
The largest unknown project is the Evangeline Groundwater Project, which includes a pipeline and about two dozen wells that could add enough water to avert an emergency. The project still needs state approval, but the city hopes to have water flowing in November. But the new sources have their drawbacks, with some raising concerns about water quality, and there are fears that over-pumping could lead to groundwater depletion.
If the city had to declare a water emergency, it would be able to limit water use more aggressively – mandatory reductions that apply equally to all industries and residents. Loeb said this was a sensitive decision and would likely be a “devastating bloodbath.”
Because residents have already reduced their water use on average, future mandatory cuts are likely to have a greater impact on the industry.
“It would be an unbelievable disaster,” said Don Roach, former assistant general manager of the San Patricio Municipal Water District, which has many industrial customers in the area. “When you cut off cooling water for most of these industries, they have to stop working. There is no other way around it.”
Companies that produce fuels, polymers, iron and steel “have the least flexibility in just reducing water use,” Paulison said. He added that companies remain optimistic about their ability to reduce usage, adapt and continue operations.
Zanoni said the city’s plans must provide time to avoid the worst.
“We hope we don’t get there, but we don’t operate on hope,” he said.
___
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment