CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Corpus Christi is on a continued search for more water. They didn't have to look far for their latest surge of water because it may come from a source the city already maintains.
Last June, Corpus Christi City Council approved the money for a survey to be done on the Mary Rhodes Pipeline. Results were presented to city council on Tuesday. The Mary Rhodes Pipeline Phase One brings water from Lake Texana down to Corpus Christi. Mary Rhodes Phase Two connects it to the Colorado River.
According to Drew Molly, Chief Operating Officer of Corpus Christi Water, the pipeline was found to be in good condition. He added that it's pumping out as much as it can hold right now.
In a graphic shown to city council, the city has a Take and Pay agreement with the rights holder of Lake Texana, Lavaca-Navidad River Authority for the amount of 31,4400 acres-ft per year
“The water that we have available to us on Lavaca-Navidad or Lake Texana we’re taking advantage of that. Any time that water is offered, we’re taking it,” Molly said.
It's a different story for the Colorado River. Corpus christi is the rights holder for that water and can bring in 35,000 acres-ft a year. However they have struggled to pump more than 31 percent of that in any of the last three years.
“This is a 25 year old piece of pipe it’s done pretty well up to this point up to now and we expect it’ll do pretty well for the rest of it’s life span. But, it’s not going to last forever,” said Councilman Mike Pusley.
HDR, the company that conducted the study made several findings. Their survey revealed three minor leaks that were able to be addressed. The most important finding was that the areas that cause problems were because the pipe couldn't handle the pressure of that area.
Throughout the pipeline, there are different size pipes to handle water pressure of 100, 125, 150 and 175 psi.
“For the council that’s the most important finding in this report which in another way of saying it in layman terms is the pipe thickness is not thick enough in certain areas where the pressure is higher,” said City Manager Peter Zanoni.
At the current rate, the pipeline is pumping 44 million gallons a day. If pushed harder it's led to pipe bursts. The survey reveals the pipeline can be improved to take the pipeline to the next level and pump out up to 58 million gallons a day.
Corpus Christi Water proposes a parallel pipeline in three locations which have shown problems keeping up with the pressure.
It's estimated to cost between $90 and $105 million for 11 miles of pipe total in those three different locations.
With that, CCW estimates there would be an increase to everyone’s water bill, $.19 per 1,000 gallons of water.
“If you’re a resident who uses, lets say typically 6,000 gallons a month, you would be paying an additional $1.14 on your water bill,” Molly said.
All water customers, including large industry, would pay an increase based on the amount of water they use a month. Molly's example was an industry using 244,000 gallons a month would see an increase over $46,000 on their water bill.
CCW will come back to council on June 11 with more details on the project. The idea is that they will propose to amend the contract with HDR and have them design the project. Putting the design out to bid could added many months to the projected timeline. The project is expected to be completed in no less than two and a half years, once began.
Mary Rhodes Pipeline is just one of a few water sources for the Corpus Christi Water District.
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