CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — The city acknowledged Tuesday that state law allows it to cut water individually to any of the 23 exempt industrial users if they fail to reduce consumption during a water emergency.
City Manager Peter Zanoni previously said the city has no way to simply shut off users who do not cut back, calling it essentially an honor system.
Some City Council members also pushed back, saying they believed industry exemptions related to surcharges only applied to Drought Stages one to three and not a water emergency.
Tuesday, the city said that exempt large volume water users, or users who have opted into the drought surcharge exemption fee would not be subject to surcharges if they were to be implemented by the city during a Level One Water Emergency.
"Maybe it was my misunderstanding, but I thought the drought exemption surcharge or drought exemption fee was only through stage three. Did not include anything to do in stage four, what we're calling water emergency. Now, is that incorrect?" said District 5 City Councilman Gil Hernadez.
"The drought surcharge exemption fee is applicable during level one water emergencies," the Corpus Christi Water COO Nick Winkelmann, P.E. said.
"So were we misinformed or misled the entire time?" Hernandez said.
"I can't answer that. I know that personally, since I've been CEO, we've had the last meeting or so we've talked about, that it is still applicable during a level one water emergency," Winkelmann said.
Surcharges do not create more water. They are designed to get people to use less of it. During a severe drought, the city sets usage limits. If customers go over that amount, they pay more to encourage them to cut back.
While that can work for residential customers, large industrial users account for a huge share of overall water use. Under the city's drought plan, some users are classified as exempt. This means they avoid paying a surcharge even if the city enters a level one water emergency, leaving them with no financial reason to reduce water use.
Many industrial operations say they cannot easily cut back water use without affecting production. They may pay a surcharge and keep operating or avoid it entirely if the exemption holds.
Because of this, overall water usage may not drop as much as the city hopes. Surcharges serve as a tool to stretch the current water supply, rather than a guarantee of reduced usage.
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