Zanoni: Delay gives city time to bring on water supply projects
The city received “tremendous” news, according to officials, with City Manager Peter Zanoni noting that the one-year extension to a fall 2028 deadline gives the city “time to bring on our water supply projects without the stress of heading into a Level 1 water emergency.” More floodwater is expected to arrive from hard-hit areas of Texas upstream, officials said, and the additional inflow could further ease water-use restrictions that officials have asked residents and businesses to adopt.
The city has been taking steps to avoid a crisis in which demand outstrips supply — a scenario that, before the flooding, had been projected to arrive a year earlier than the current timeline. The reprieve comes as floodwater from recent intense storms continues flowing into the region’s reservoirs.
Corpus Christi, Texas’ eighth-largest city, anchors a water system that supports a population of 500,000 across seven counties. The system also supplies one of the nation’s largest petrochemical corridors and the Port of Corpus Christi, the country’s top port for crude oil exports.