A decision on the Inner Harbor desalination plant in Corpus Christi has been pushed back by three months.
The Corpus Christi City Council after 2 a.m. on June 3 chose to move the vote on a new contract for its design to Sept. 1, the same day the council is also scheduled to take its first vote on the 2026-2027 fiscal year budget, according to city officials.
It would be almost exactly one year to the date that the council had rejected the original contract for the proposed facility, planned to generate as much as 30 million gallons of treated water per day.
The decision to postpone the vote was 7-2, with City Council members Gil Hernandez, Carolyn Vaughn, Sylvia Campos, Kaylynn Paxson, Mark Scott, Everett Roy and Eric Cantu in support and Mayor Paulette Guajardo and City Councilman Roland Barrera in dissent.
It followed hours of discussion on the project, including whether a new study examining expected brine impacts on the bay was sufficient to answer questions about whether the environment would be adequately protected with an operating desalination plant.
Some council members who endorsed delaying the vote until September had earlier in the meeting raised combinations of questions about funding and debt, pending water supply projects, environmental impacts and the timeline that the new scientific study could be further evaluated.
Some council members supporting the project have said environmental impacts have been repeatedly researched and affirmed, criticized perceived indecision and pointed to desalination as a key piece to the city’s future water supply strategy.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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: Here’s Corpus Christi’s 2 a.m. decision on Inner Harbor desalination
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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