The future of Inner Harbor desalination may be muddier than before after a tense Corpus Christi City Council special meeting on the project, held a little more than two weeks before a high-stakes vote on whether to commit to a current proposal for its development.
The April 10 meeting, called by Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo, initially focused on a potential contract to move forward with the 30-million-gallon-per-day facility, including a presentation on its components, timeline and current status.
However, conversation often veered into ancillary topics ranging from PFAS — a topic that has been little-discussed — division among council members, and criticism and defense of calling the meeting itself.
The staff remains on track for bringing the first of multiple contracts to accomplish the plant’s development to the council for consideration April 28, officials said.
Corpus Christi Desal Partners, the firm that may win a contract, estimated the plant’s cost to total about $979 million.
Guajardo, at the outset of the workshop, noted that she had originally called the meeting to bring forward the potential contract.
However, as of April 10, it remained in negotiations.
Instead, Guajardo said, the aim of the meeting was “accountability, ensuring that the public clearly understands where this process stands, the efforts that have been made to expedite this contract and what remains to bring it forward without further delay.”
“The council has studied and debated desalination while our water supply faces real and escalating risks,” she said. “That time must be over.”
While some council members said the meeting was beneficial as a way to apprise the public of the project’s status, others asserted a different purpose.
“I don’t call this an emergency meeting,” said City Councilwoman Sylvia Campos. “I just call this propaganda.”
The project has for years been controversial, primarily based on environmental and cost concerns.
A previous iteration of the project, under a different contractor, had been estimated at about $1.2 billion. The price tag played a key role in a vote to end the design contract with the company in September.
City Councilman Gil Hernandez said there are questions that must be answered, including the study and management of PFAS that may exist in the bay.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, encompass thousands of compounds, some of which are linked to serious adverse health effects such as cancer.
A limited study that had been financed by developers of a brackish groundwater project in the Valley showed concerning levels of the contaminants in the ship channel.
Hernandez said he was seeking information from staff on a slew of questions on the topic, including regulations, mitigation and disposal.
Some council members who have voiced concerns about the Inner Harbor project listed the city’s other water supply efforts, which have included groundwater and a proposed Nueces River Authority desalination project on Harbor Island.
City Councilman Roland Barrera cited challenges with the other projects, including timelines, and asserted that PFAS was being “used as a tool to obstruct.”
“It’s amazing to me — at first, we’re worried about polluting the bay, now the bay is overpolluted that we’re going to pollute our drinking water,” he said. “That, once again, just gives an example of disingenuous behavior.”
A comprehensive study on the bay system, focused on salinity and water temperature, won’t fully conclude until June.
Staff and consultants have said, however, that they believe there will be sufficient information by April 28 that could help inform the council’s decision.
The environmental study that would determine whether the bay would be protected is important, said City Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn, adding that she wasn’t “going to be pressured into making a decision till I get the information I need.”
“Don’t push something forward that could fail because you want to get it done because you think it’s an emergency,” she said.
Acknowledging criticism of calling the meeting, Guajardo said she intended to call another one “if I feel like we need it.”
“Our responsibility is not to sit back and hope that timelines happen and hope that timelines are met,” she said. “Our responsibility is to ensure that they are, so calling this meeting is a part of doing exactly that.”
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: Future of Inner Harbor desalination remains muddy after workshop
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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