Council authorizes temporary water purchase from Formosa and funds reclaimed-water study

Corpus Christi City Council approved a short-term purchase of raw water from Formosa Plastics and authorized preliminary engineering work on expanded reclaimed-water reuse.

The raw-water contract authorizes the city manager to execute a temporary sales agreement to secure up to 10,000 acre-feet from Formosa for calendar year 2025, with a developer-structured take-or-pay provision for the first 2,500 acre-feet and an option to extend for a second year if water is available. Chief Operating Officer Drew Molly told council the purchase would cost roughly $4.5 million for the year and was intended to reduce the risk that Lake Texana contract water would be fully consumed later this year as Corpus Christi continues to pump near schedule 4.

"The contract water that we would take from Formosa... works out to be $2.76 a thousand gallons," Molly told the council during the presentation. Staff said the city currently pays…