Six months after scrapping their own seawater desalination plant project, Corpus Christi City Council voted Tuesday to consider an agreement with a private company to purchase water from its desalination plant to help stave off an impending water emergency.
The council voted 7-1 to begin negotiations to acquire water from a desalination plant that’s under construction and owned by Corpus Christi Polymers, a plastic manufacturer. The plant will filter salt and other minerals out from seawater or salty groundwater to make it drinkable.
The city is in the grips of a historic drought and two of its main reservoirs have fallen to 8.4% capacity, sparking fears that the city within months may have to declare a water emergency — signaling that the city has just 180 days’ supply of water left. City manager Peter Zanoni has called desalination a drought-resistant, long-term solution to providing water to the 500,000 people across seven counties who depend on the water system…