Even more new desalination plant and groundwater well field proposals may come into the consideration of the Corpus Christi City Council — which, if ultimately deliberated by the board, would be a fifth desalination project and a sixth groundwater project already in the works.
Neither the new desalination proposal nor the new groundwater proposal will be presented as contracts or formal projects in the May 5 meeting, an agenda shows.
Rather, the two items request that the council decide whether the staff should further evaluate the proposed projects.
Although the items call only for direction to the staff, they still may generate discussion. One is a proposal for water purchase from a future desalination plant planned to generate as much as 150 million gallons per day.
Another proposal is for a new future groundwater well field southeast of the city.
Both proposals were unsolicited and submitted around six weeks ago, said City Manager Peter Zanoni on April 30.
The question being posed to the council May 5 is a matter of staff capacity to pursue new water supply projects, he said.
The number of new proposals — some of which have been raised in public, and some of which have been brought to individual council members — has become “just too unwieldy,” Zanoni said.
“At this point, I’m seeking the majority of the council to give us direction to say, ‘We think this is a good project to work on,’” he said. “Otherwise, we’re … working on too many different projects and we just don’t have time to manage other aspects of the water system.”
The new desalination proposal
A city memo shows company AXE H20 pitching development of a 150-million-gallon-per-day desalination facility that would feature “a deep-sea Gulf intake, with a dedicated offshore 8-mile pipeline for the brine discharge, in a HB 2031 designated green zone.”
The company has a basic business concept, Zanoni said, but there are key questions that need to be addressed, such as who the customer base may be.
City water demands, for example, ranged between 100 million gallons and 130 million gallons per day, officials said in December.
Although the company relayed that it was looking at potential sites in the Barney Davis Power Plant area, there are also questions about precise location, Zanoni said.
Attempts to reach AXE H20 representatives through an online contact form were unsuccessful, and no phone number was listed.
If pursued, it would be among a slew of desalination projects already in negotiations or pending a vote.
The city’s project — the proposed 30-million-gallon-per-day Inner Harbor desalination seawater plant — is expected to see a vote on a potential contract with Corpus Christi Desal Partners for its continued design June 2.
The three other projects would require partnerships.
Talks are underway for a potential agreement to purchase water from a desalination plant owned by plastics manufacturer Corpus Christi Polymers.
Discussions are also being held with San Antonio-based CPS Energy about the possibility of a seawater desalination plant being developed on property adjacent to the Barney Davis Power Plant.
City officials also last year approved paying the Nueces River Authority a $2.7 million nonrefundable fee to reserve 50 million gallons of treated water per day from a proposed desalination plant planned for development on Harbor Island.
The new groundwater proposal
Also expected for discussion May 5 is something akin to a revamped proposal — a brackish groundwater desalination initiative by Seven Seas Water Group.
It is a different proposal than the one that had been under review, which was late last year presented as a public-private partnership between the South Texas Water Authority and Seven Seas Water Group that would have sold water to Corpus Christi.
That proposal fell through, Zanoni said.
The new proposal would be directly between Seven Seas and the city, he said.
A memo does not state the exact location that a well field may be constructed, but describes it as a site on a “large land area southeast of Corpus Christi.”
A hydrogeological study is pending “to evaluate the merits of the potential project site,” it adds.
“This project would deliver a minimum of 10 million gallons a day (MGD) of drinking water with expectations of up to 20 MGD,” the document states. “The final size of the project will be dictated by aquifer testing which will inform the long-term sustainable production possible from this portion of the aquifer.”
City officials currently have two groundwater well fields operating in Nueces County, and another two are being pursued in San Patricio County.
Seven Seas is a water provider with a track record, Zanoni said, but there may be concerns about pursuing another well field site in Nueces County.
A water emergency
City officials have been exploring a wide range of water supply projects in the past year — some long on the books and some new — in a race to get ahead of a water emergency.
A water emergency, called when the city is six months from supply insufficient to meet demand, is currently projected by staff to begin in September.
It would involve mandatory curtailment, or a forced reduction of water use, from all customers — residential, commercial, industrial and wholesale.
Decisions on how much would be curtailed, should the city enter into a water emergency, are pending a May 12 meeting.
Kirsten Crow covers city government and water news. Have a story idea? Contact her at kirsten.crow@caller.com.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Another desalination proposal? Corpus Christi council may discuss it
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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