Editor’s Note:This story has been updated to include a statement from the City of Corpus Christi following the publication of this story.
Corpus Christi is in a race against time to secure its water future, spending hundreds of millions of dollars through emergency procurement while waiting on state and federal help that City Manager Peter Zanoni says has yet to materialize in the form of actual funding.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, where the council approved more than $400 million in emergency water projects, Zanoni made a pointed statement about where the city stands financially in its effort to avoid a Level One water emergency.
C.C. WATER CRISIS: Where things stand as the city spends hundreds of millions
“The federal government knows we need money and the state knows we need money, but guess what — no one is writing out any checks,” Zanoni told the council. “So if they wanted to, they would have written them out by now. But we need to keep the pressure on. I know we went to D.C. to ask for funds for the two desalination plants and we continue to talk to our delegation. It is without any doubt that federal and state assistance is needed for this city. The ratepayer can’t afford all of this, and our industry here supports the nation and the international community.”…