NUECES COUNTY, Texas — For Trey Cranford and Kelly Harlan, a recent trip down the Nueces River wasn’t about recreation — it was research. The two are working to establish Nueces County’s first groundwater conservancy, and they believe something is seriously wrong with the water.
Their concern centers on total dissolved solids (TDS), a measurement that reflects salinity and other substances in water. The federal standard for safe drinking water is 500 TDS — but in their tests, the numbers were much higher.
“Two thousand eight hundred seventy-three,” Cranford said, reading the meter. “OK, so five times the standard for drinking water.”
Another reading showed 3,300.
“It’s high,” said Harlan.
They believe the city’s new emergency wells may be to blame. The eight wells, recently activated in response to drought conditions, will draw up to 11 million gallons per day from the Evangeline Aquifer. Cranford and Harlan suspect the pumping is pulling up brackish water and increasing the river’s salinity downstream.
The concern was raised publicly during a recent Corpus Christi City Council meeting, where Councilman Gil Hernandez questioned whether the city was complying with state water standards.
“So according to the bed and banks permit, you have to monitor the river and keep it below 1,000 TDS?” Hernandez asked city staff.
“It’s based on the percentages of the baseline for the river,” said Interim Chief Operating Officer for Corpus Christi Water, Nick Winkelmann. “We’ve seen TDS ranges from 800 to 1,200 naturally.”
Other experts point to drought as another cause.
“For the past five years, we’ve been very dry,” said Hydrogeologist for TAMU-CC, Dr. Dorina Murgulet Ph.D. “It’s no surprise if we see levels going up in the river because of lower fresh water inflows.”
Even so, just two days after Cranford and Harlan took their samples, the city shut down three of the eight emergency wells. According to officials, the decision was part of a planned operational shift — but for residents near the river, the timing raised eyebrows.
“We noticed the water was up about a foot,” said Dan, who lives just feet from one of the wells. “So it looks like they’re mixing good water to weed out the bad."
Dan said he’s worried about long-term consequences. He’s particularly concerned that the concentrated use of wells in such a small stretch of riverbank could lead to lasting environmental damage.
“They’ve got eight wells running in a space less than two miles long,” he said.
As if on cue, while Dan spoke, the nearby well restarted with a mechanical hum.
“It’s back,” he said, turning toward the sound.
Back at the river, Cranford and Harlan say their goal is simple: protect the region’s aquifer and ensure that smaller communities aren’t left with degraded water quality.
“We want them to stop taking the water from the little guy,” Harlan said. “And there needs to be some protection of the aquifer.”
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