City staff brief council on multiple water supply projects as reservoirs remain low

City staff briefed the City Council on a suite of short‑, mid‑ and long‑term water supply projects as the city’s Western reservoirs continue to decline.

Drew Molly, a city water systems presenter, and Nicholas (Nick) Winkelmann, director of water systems, told the council that the city is already discharging groundwater into the Nueces River through the Eastern well field and that drilling and testing are underway for a Western well field. “Water now,” Molly said when describing phase‑1 operations; staff reported they were discharging roughly 5–7 million gallons per day into the river as of the presentation.

Key near‑term details presented to council: - Eastern well field: staff reported eight production wells nearly completed and a TCEQ bed‑and‑banks discharge permit awarded in early August; hydrogeologic review so far supports a sustainable long‑term yield of about 11 million gallons per day (MGD) from the Eastern wells under monitored pumping conditions. - Western well field: a test well has been pumped and analyzed; the hydrogeologist’s modeling suggests a potential short‑term output as high as 27 MGD but a more conservative sustainable yield of about 17 MGD; staff said the Western field could require roughly 12 production…