At Least 6 Cities & Towns In Corpus Christi Area Are Declaring Water Emergencies; CC, State Of TX Not Engaging

At least six small cities and towns in the Coastal Bend region of Texas issued disaster declarations in the last two weeks, begging not to be forgotten amid a spiraling water crisis. All attention lies on the city of Corpus Christi as it grapples with the growing likelihood of an unprecedented disaster. But Corpus Christi, the eighth-largest city in Texas, doesn’t just provide water to its own industries and residents. It supplies the entire seven-county region, including 20 other municipalities.

“Everyone is like, ‘What the heck is going on and what do we do?” said Elida Castillo, mayor of the small town of Taft, which issued a disaster declaration on April 21. “I’m just trying to figure out what we could do.” Castillo recently organized a town hall meeting on the water crisis for the 3,000 residents of Taft, but officials from Corpus Christi didn’t show up. She hasn’t heard much from county or state officials either. She is getting a sense that nobody knows what to do, and she isn’t alone.

EDIT

If Corpus Christi becomes the first modern American city to run out of water, it would take most surrounding communities with it. Up the coast of Corpus Christi Bay, the cities of Ingleside and Aransas Pass, with a combined 19,000 residents, issued disaster declarations on April 22.“ There should be some type of legislation that will assist us now, rather than in the future,” said Ingleside City Manager Brenton Lewis. “All these small cities that have declared disasters are looking at alternate water supplies.”The towns of Three Rivers, Orange Grove and Alice also issued disaster declarations in the week prior.

EDIT

Fifty miles away, the city of Beeville declared a disaster in October and issued $35 million in municipal debt, totalling about $2,600 per resident, to fund its own emergency groundwater desalination project. Most local small town governments remain either reluctant or unable to consider the high cost required for reverse osmosis treatment, said Kasy Stinson, a project developer for Seven Seas based in Austin, especially if they’re accustomed to water that has been historically undervalued in Texas.

EDIT

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28042026/corpus-christi-water-disaster-declarations/