Corpus Christi is looking at a new water source: Water pipelined from the Valley area

As work continues on the proposed Inner Harbor seawater desalination plant, an additional potential project has come forward – brackish desalination, with the source of groundwater on a ranch in the Hebbronville area roughly 70 miles away, according to officials.

The proposal has “definitely got some merits,” Drew Molly, Corpus Christi Water chief operating officer, told the council last week.

“I think any project deserves to be looked at thoroughly,” he said.

The proposal took the spotlight following the demise of the city’s negotiations on the Evangeline groundwater project, located in San Patricio County.

In a presentation to the City Council, Eshelman-Vogt groundwater project representative Michael Mintz described a “huge, very low-saline reservoir” situated in “very unique location.”

In the proposed process, brine wouldn’t be disposed of off the ranch, he said.

“It never goes into a harbor,” Mintz told the council. “It never goes into the gulf.”

Water quantity was not specified.

The proposal represents an opportunity “to possibly take advantage of a water resource that we have not discussed at length,” said City Councilman Mike Pusley, who brought the item to the council last week.

Substantial work is pending before determining a direction on a potential private-public partnership, said City Councilman Gil Hernandez – to include how to supply power to the site.

City officials last week formally voted for City Manager Peter Zanoni and Corpus Christi Water staff to launch talks on “a possible joint venture to acquire water rights from the Eshelman-Vogt Groundwater Project,” according to a memo included in the council’s agenda.

It’s anticipated the staff and representatives of the Catahoula Water Company would not dive into discussions in earnest until late September or early October, following the conclusion of the budget adoption and ongoing work on the Inner Harbor seawater desalination request for proposals.

The staff will soon be “scoring and working with council on that final design-builder,” Zanoni told officials last week.

Any financial negotiations related to a potential partnership on brackish water desalination, however, would not begin until the Catahoula Water Company could offer to the city studies proving the feasibility of the project, as well as “their ability to secure the necessary pipeline infrastructure that would supply the refined water to the appropriate City designed tie-in location,” the memo states.

The city would not be responsible for funding the additional studies requested, councilmembers said.

It’s a good approach, Zanoni told the council last week, because it “puts a little bit of onus on Dr. Mintz to provide some additional business point scenarios and easement certainty.”

There’s policy to consider, said City Councilman Roland Barrera.

“If there’s a resource that’s available, then the individual that stands to profit the most – or the individual that wants to provide that – has to be able to provide the resources to be able to do the engineering and to be able to provide us with that calculation,” he said.

More: Here's when the city may be approved for a low-interest desalination loan

More: More than just desalination: City of Corpus Christi considering alternative water sources

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi is looking at a new water source: Water pipelined from the Valley area