Two months after a divided Corpus Christi City Council ended a design contract for the Inner Harbor desalination plant, talks are expected to resume — this time, under a new proposal.
The proposal, brought forth under a recommendation by city staff, would open the door for negotiations with the company that had ranked second in the original contract award process.
The upcoming talks, if like the previous, may be contentious.
Some council members have expressed openness to alternative options that would again pick up pursuit of the plant.
Others have remained steadfast in objection against the project and are critical of its return to the council floor.
In a Nov. 12 message to the Caller-Times, Mayor Paulette Guajardo suggested the newly proposed plan “represents a significant step toward unity and progress on desalination for Corpus Christi.”
She had been in support of continuing design of the plant in the 6-3 vote in September.
“(The plan) provides a thoughtful, structured path forward, one that allows the Council to move together through a transparent, phased process,” Guajardo wrote, describing it as “the result of continued collaboration between the City Manager, myself, and individual Council members.”
“It demonstrates our shared commitment to working together in good faith to serve the people of Corpus Christi and secure a reliable water supply,” she wrote.
City Councilwoman Sylvia Campos, who has staunchly opposed the proposed plant, largely based on environmental concerns, told the Caller-Times on Nov. 14 that her position remains unchanged.
She has also cited concerns about the impact of a desalination plant on the adjacent Hillcrest neighborhood.
There hasn’t been an answer to the question of how much water the city needs, she said — particularly in light of recent movement in pursuing groundwater and treated effluent sources, as well as the purchase of water reservations from the Nueces River Authority’s proposed desalination plant on Harbor Island.
Discussions “should have started with conservation,” Campos said. “But now we’re paddling backwards, just like we do with most projects.”
The past vote
The City Council in September had ultimately voted down continuing design of the plant under a contract with Kiewit South Infrastructure Co., which was then leading the design and build process.
Although some council members had voiced wariness of the potential for environmental impacts, what was largely cited as the reason to halt the project was Kiewit’s $1.2 billion cost estimate for the project — about 60% higher than what had been estimated by a different consultant in January 2024.
There has been lengthy dispute over whether the project, planned to generate as much as 30 million gallons of water per day, has been adequately studied for environmental risk.
Another point of contention — the proposed site of development off West Broadway and Nueces Boulevard, adjacent to a historically Black and Hispanic subdivision known as the Hillcrest neighborhood.
While supporters have asserted there is a need for additional water supply to maintain and grow the local economy, critics have suggested the majority of new supply would be used for heavy industrial operations.
The 6-3 vote in September saw City Council members Carolyn Vaughn, Everett Roy, Eric Cantu, Kaylynn Paxson, Gil Hernandez and Campos in favor of ending funding to Kiewit for the plant’s design, and the mayor and City Councilmen Roland Barrera and Mark Scott supporting forward movement on the project.
Since the vote, there has been disagreement among some City Council members — and the public — on whether that decision applied solely to the Kiewit contract or if it was a definitive statement on the project in its entirety.
A new proposal
The new proposal for returning to the Inner Harbor desalination project was announced by City Manager Peter Zanoni in a Nov. 7 memo distributed to council members and the media.
The document showed a recommendation by staff to bring Corpus Christi Desalination Partners on board for discussions over a six-month period at no cost, culminating with a decision in the March or April timeframe on whether to proceed with a contract.
A memorandum of understanding, scheduled for council consideration Nov. 18, states a preliminary maximum guaranteed price would be expected to be provided around the end of February.
That would be a significant departure in the timeline for a cost estimate.
Kiewit had provided an estimate about seven months after the contract award.
Zanoni told the Caller-Times earlier this month that under the new proposal with CCDP, “we’ll know what we can get in terms of construction options or operations options in the plant and then the council can decide in the upfront — do we want to continue, even before we enter into a contract.”
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi City Council to resume desalination discussions Nov. 18
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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