CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year treated water supply agreement with Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District No. 3 in response to growing concerns about rising salinity in the district’s water.
WCID No. 3 supplies water to the City of Robstown and about 10,000 customers in Corpus Christi. The district pulls its water from the Nueces River and Lake Corpus Christi.
Under the agreement, the City of Corpus Christi will supply Robstown with up to 3 million gallons of treated water per day. Corpus Christi will also reimburse WCID No. 3 approximately $1.7 million for construction of a new interconnection and storage tank. In return, the city will be allowed to lease up to 5 million gallons per day of water from the district, drawn from Lake Corpus Christi. The costs will be passed on to Corpus Christi ratepayers.
City leaders said the deal is tied to Corpus Christi’s broader groundwater-based water supply strategy. To offset historically low reservoir levels and drought impacts, the city has been pumping groundwater from deeper aquifers, including the Evangeline Aquifer, and developing municipal well fields along the Nueces River. Corpus Christi has drilled wells in an Eastern Well Field — now producing millions of gallons per day — and is developing a Western Well Field to expand local groundwater production. In addition, the city is pursuing a long-term project to secure rights to Evangeline Aquifer groundwater, with plans to bring more supply online in the coming years.
Officials acknowledge that water from these wells, particularly from the deeper aquifer and some parts of the Eastern field, tends to have higher salt and mineral content. That elevated salinity can flow downstream and affect water quality in the river system that WCID No. 3 also uses.
“What a way to put lipstick on a pig,” said District 5 Councilman Gil Hernandez. “This cost — this $1.7 million — is a direct reflection of the actions we’re taking in order to have that water along the river banks.”
WCID officials told council members they are already seeing changes in water quality moving through their system. They reported that total dissolved solids (TDS) — a measure of salt and mineral content — have more than doubled at the district’s treatment plant. “Right now we’re seeing about 1,500 TDS at the plant,” a district representative said. “For the last 15 years, we’ve averaged around 700.”
WCID No. 3 holds senior water rights on the Nueces River and relies on both the river and Lake Corpus Christi to supply water to its customers, a fact that underlies the concern about changes in water quality.
