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 wells if fully developed. - Funding and costs: city staff reported roughly $18 million in project costs incurred to date and noted a $30 million state grant awarded to support the drilling and initial work on the Nueces well project. Molly and Winkelmann said full development of the Western/Eastern well fields and a brackish reverse‑osmosis (RO) treatment and conveyance system to the Owen Stevens site are conceptually estimated at about $350 million, with a possible completion target around 2028 if the council pursues a large RO pipeline and plant.

On longer‑range projects and partners, staff updated the council: - Evangeline groundwater project: staff said the city has received an offer on water rights (cited in presentation as $169 million) and that capital costs to construct conveyance and supporting infrastructure to tie Evangeline into the Mary Rhodes pipeline were estimated by project engineers at roughly $200 million for a 12‑MGD build; the Evangeline plan is scalable to 24 MGD and a peer review produced an overall conceptual estimate near $640 million for larger capacity; project timeline cited by staff was in the 2029 range. - Nueces River Authority / Inner Harbor seawater project: staff described the NRA Harbor Island public‑private approach, a permit package filed with the federal Army Corps and a TCEQ discharge permit application; permit timelines were shown in the packet as 2029–2032. Staff said reservation options exist, including a nonrefundable annual reservation fee (staff cited a $821,000 annual reservation figure for a 30‑MGD reservation as presented by the NRA); staff emphasized that such reservation payments would be nonrefundable and would need to be renewed annually until delivery.

Staff presented a water‑supply dashboard projecting combined reservoir storage under conservative precipitation assumptions. With no additions, staff modeled Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon reservoir storage falling to zero in May 2027. The dashboard showed that adding the Eastern and Western well field yields could push that date to May 2029; adding a 30‑MGD Inner Harbor supply in models produced a projection in which the Western reservoirs were no longer the limiting factor.

Council questions focused on yield, sustainability and permitting. Councilmember Caitlin Paxson asked how the hydrogeologist derived the difference between short‑term pumped volumes and sustainable yields; Molly and the hydrogeologist’s summary explained that monitoring wells and drawdown data informed sustainable pumping assumptions and that further drilling and monitoring may change those numbers. Nick Winkelmann noted the city’s temporary bed‑and‑banks permit for the Eastern wells is currently a short‑term approval (three years) and staff intends to apply for a permanent right to secure the discharge and increase legal certainty.

Staff also reviewed parallel efforts: meetings with Evangeline and project sponsors, a CC Polymers project meeting, work with the Nueces River Authority and Garver consultant peer review, continued work on effluent reuse concepts, and discussions with the South Texas Water Authority. Staff described next steps including upcoming stakeholder meetings and a September 23 briefing on South Texas Water Authority progress.

Ending: Staff characterized the well drilling program as an immediate source of water while the city evaluates longer‑term options, and promised ongoing monitoring and further technical reports to the council; councilmembers asked staff to continue to provide weekly updates and detailed hydrogeologic material for public review.

Quotes used in this article come from the council meeting transcript and are attributed to the speakers listed in the speaker roster.