City Council hears major water, public safety and service reports; approves fire staffing grant application

City Council convened June 23 at City Hall and spent much of the meeting on multi‑department briefings and a handful of significant decisions and policy discussions that could affect utilities, public safety and capital projects. The most substantive items covered: a detailed water supply update from city water staff, progress and debate over the Inner Harbor desalination demonstration and procurement approach, a lengthy discussion of an animal care facilities funding package (consent item 5), a broad public‑safety briefing from police leadership, and council approval to submit a SAFER grant application to hire additional firefighters.

Water supplies, alternatives and reuse studies

Drew Molly, city water staff, told the council June 23 that heavy rain from June 13–16 raised combined western lake levels from roughly 14.7% to 15.4% and produced meaningful inflows to Lake Corpus Christi and—less so—to Choke Canyon. He said the storm created a “tail water” effect where converging tributaries briefly backed up at the Three Rivers convergence and the city closed the Choke Canyon gates to avoid an uncontrolled release. Molly said the city had received an offer of 4,500 acre‑feet of interruptible water from a Lavaca/Avado River authority partner and that the city will use that allocation.

Molly reviewed near‑term projects the city is advancing to diversify supply: a memorandum of understanding being negotiated with South Texas Water Authority, the Nueces River groundwater well project (officers reported a plan to have eight wells drilled by August, providing roughly 13–15 million gallons per day), and the Evangeline groundwater project (staff said an outside valuation will take four to five weeks). He also confirmed the city submitted material to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to obtain short‑term bed and bank (temporary) permits related to releases that could be made on the Nueces River; council members asked several technical questions about who enforces unlawful withdrawals and about permit timing. Molly and council members repeatedly emphasized these are interim or additional supplies and do not remove the need for ongoing conservation and longer‑term projects.

Inner Harbor desalination project: modeling, pilot demonstration, and contract approach

Brent Manhazel, program manager for the Inner Harbor Water Treatment Campus, and a guest presenter from the Water Collaborative Delivery Association briefed council on the ongoing demonstration (pilot) work and on the city’s progressive design‑build procurement model.

Manhazel said the city completed a near‑ and far‑field hydrodynamic model in May; consultants GHD and the project construction partner are now running multiple scenarios (worst‑case through best‑case) and will present results to council at the July 15 meeting. The model domain includes the ship channel and the bay system seaward and upbay; Manhazel said it is being used to design an…