CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni held a media Q&A session Friday that included 37 minutes of opening statements and 30 minutes of questions — and still left some answers on the table.
"Especially for our homeowners... we're not going to run out of water. When you go to your tap water is going to come out," Zanoni said.
At the top of the session, Zanoni highlighted 6 models that forecast potential outcomes in the city's water situation, though he declined to distribute them to reporters.
"We're not going to hand them out but I do have them. It includes our best case scenario... that we've been using. It goes all the way to our worst-case scenario," Zanoni said.
He explained the models represent a range of outcomes, all dependent on factors like project permits and future probabilities of rain. They'll be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
"Some of our models now reflect no rain for the rest of the year," Zanoni said.
Zanoni said the city's plan is "on schedule" and that the main focus is now securing permits for water projects from organizations like the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He said the city had a meeting Friday to advance permits for its Western Well Fields.
"But we're working through that as well. In fact we have a meeting today to try and advance some of the permits for our Western Well Fields," Zanoni said.
When asked about Governor Greg Abbott's criticism of city leadership this week, Zanoni pointed out that the governor's office is actively helping obtain those permits.
"Sometimes its two, three times a day we're talking to his team. They know what's going on here they're helping us on permits," Zanoni said.
Zanoni also acknowledged concerns from Corpus Christi residents.
"I hear the questions... which are: 'What is the city doing? Where's the water?'" Zanoni said.
On the question of whether the city will run out of water, Zanoni was direct — but offered a caveat.
"We will never run out of water. Could it be a situation where for a period of time the supply doesn't meet the demand? That's possible," Zanoni said.
Zanoni said he does not foresee the city going into a Level 1 water emergency "anytime soon," but explained what additional charges residents could see if that does happen.
"No rate surcharge goes into effect until you use more than seven thousand gallons. Which is a lot the typical home only uses six. And the difference I think was only four dollars per thousand gallons. So if you use eight thousand gallons a month you pay four dollars more," Zanoni said.
On the question of whether industry will pay its fair share, Zanoni said high-volume users are already part of the conversation.
"One of the easier groups to work with will be the high volume users. They use about 55 to 60 percent of our water. We're meeting with them every week to talk about reductions in use with them," Zanoni said.
Zanoni said the city is working to replace the 70 million gallons a day currently drawn from reservoirs with multiple water projects that would collectively provide 76 million gallons a day.
"And we want to get that message out.... that we're safe, we have a safe water supply, we have enough water," Zanoni said.
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