HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 04/26/2021 - WorkshopI HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of
the Workshop Meeting of the Corpus Christi City Council of April 26, 2021, which
were approved by the City Council on May 11, 2021.
WITNESSETH MY HAND AND SEAL, on this the 11th day of May 2021.
(SEAL)
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Rebecca Huerta
City Secretary
Corpus Christi, Texas
City of Corpus Christi
Rebecca Huerta, City Secretary
P.O. Box 9277
Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277
(361) 826-3105
rebeccah@cctexas.com
SCANNED
City of Corpus Christi
Meeting Minutes
City Council Workshop Session
1201 Leopard Street
Corpus Christi, TX 78401
cctexas.com
Monday, April 26, 2021 8:00 AM
Texas State Aquarium
2710 N. Shoreline Boulevard
Flint Hills Resources (FHS) STEM Center Room
A. Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo to call the meeting to order.
Mayor Guajardo called the meeting to order at 8:09 a.m.
B. City Secretary Rebecca L. Huerta to call the roll of the required Charter Officers.
City Secretary Rebecca L. Huerta called the roll and verified that a quorum of the City
Council and the required Charter Officers were present to conduct the meeting.
Charter Officers:
City Manager Peter Zanoni, City Attorney Miles K. Risley and City Secretary Rebecca L.
Huerta.
Present 9 - Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo, Council Member Roland Barrera, Council Member Gil
Hernandez, Council Member Michael Hunter, Council Member Billy A.Lerma,
Council Member John Martinez, Council Member Ben Molina, Council Member
Mike Pusley, and Council Member Greg Smith
C. BRIEFINGS TO CITY COUNCIL:
1. 21-0196 City Council Seawater Desalination Workshop
Strategic Communications Manager Amber Oetting facilitated the meeting and reviewed
meeting agenda.
Freese & Nichols Project Manager and Environmental Engineer, Jason Cocklin and
Water Resource Manager Esteban Ramos presented information on the following topics:
the timeline shows efforts that this project is feasible: 1) environmentally sustainable; 2)
affordability; and 3) operational longevity; time and money invested; potential candidate
preferred; site selection strategy; matrixes and criteria; all sites considered; Inner Harbor
Ship Channel; La Quinta and Harbor Island; and twenty-one sites - breakdown of
selection criteria.
Council Members, Mr. Cocklin, Mr. Ramos, City Manager Peter Zanoni, and Director of
Water Utilities Kevin Norton discussed the following topics: a Council Member's concern
whether the citizens of Corpus Christi had any input on choosing the site; a survey was
not sent out to Corpus Christi residents, but there was community outreach; the decisions
made by City Council included public comment; original stakeholders were City Council,
staff, Port of Corpus Christi, Port Industries and San Patricio Municipal Water District; the
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Cities of Beeville and Alice buy water from Corpus Christi, so it's important to begin with
the Inner Harbor; a Council Member is opposed to the Inner Harbor location because of
the environmental impact that desalination will have on oysters; San Patricio County
needs to share the groundwater study with Corpus Christi; CC Polymers has excess
water available for Corpus Christi, but it's not approved for drinking; as the regional water
supplier, the City of Corpus Christi has all of the customers in the region; private
industries are not part of the Region N plan; the water is on the acidic side so it has to be
blended and stabilized from the O.N. Stevens plant; the project will be at or below the
trigger point of 75% that the City Council approved around 2023-2024; and both sites will
benefit the regional water supply growth.
Freese & Nichols Professional Engineer, Jorge Arroyo and Director of Water Utilities
Kevin Norton presented information on the following topics: site selection
goal -Economics & Environment; site selection: strategy; merit of candidate sites; the
goal is to have two desalination plants, one in San Patricio County and one in Nueces
County; and La Quinta and Inner Harbor sites both have potential, but overall Inner Harbor
is the better choice.
Council Members, Mr. Arroyo, Director Norton, President and Co-founder of Water Globe
Consultants Nikolay Voutchkov and Mr. Cocklin discussed the following topics: the Inner
Harbor will be built with 20 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) capacity, but is expandable to
30 MGD; the discharge at Harbor Island seems to have direct access to the ship channel;
the permit for the Inner Harbor allows for production of 30 MGD potable water and La
Quinta is 20 to 40 MGD; a Council Member's concern that limiting the expansion size
could affect future growth for the entire region; arsenic and lead contamination in the Bay
are an issue; and Council Members' concerns about not having a detailed report.
Panel and open discussion: Council Members, Freese & Nichols Project Manager and
Environmental Engineer, Jason Cocklin, Water Resource Manager Esteban Ramos,
Procurement and Contract Expert of WSP Neil Callahan, Freese & Nichols Professional
Engineer, Jorge Arroyo, Coastal Environmental Scientist Dave Buzan, and President and
Co-founder of Water Globe Consultants Nikolay Voutchkov discussed the following
topics: the limitation on the discharges is the reason for having two different sites; a
single "mega -site" would require more expensive infrastructure; desalination technology
is still improving; discharge volume is limited which could increase production capacity in
the future based on environmental impact; staff looked at the option that was best for the
demand in the region; desalination offers the region the opportunity to bring on drought
proof supply; the Port of Corpus Christi proposed five or six potential sites; the Carlsbad,
CA desal plant intake is near the lagoon connected to the ocean; Carlsbad plant has an
open ocean discharge of 50 MGD versus Corpus Christi's limited discharge location; a
Council Member's concern of taking the brine further out from the beach and the Bay;
oysters on the Texas coast prefer a range of salinity from 10 to 30 parts per thousand;
seawater is about 35 parts per thousand; the normal range is 20 to 30 parts per thousand
for oysters; the discharge will only allow the salinity to increase by 2 parts per thousand;
TCEQ will not issue a permit that will allow a big difference in salinity; the downfalls of
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building in the Inner Harbor are same downfalls as anywhere else; the main disadvantage
of the Inner Harbor is being a dead-end channel and a lack of ventilation; cost of water is
only an estimate of $3 to $4 per thousand gallons; the lower salinity of water always yields
lower costs; 60% discharge versus 40% production is the overall recovery rate; the
estimated cost of water generated from Inner Harbor project would be less than that from
Mary Rhodes Pipeline Phase II; in response to a Council Member's inquiry about
out -sourcing desal, Mr. Voutchkov said, current industry trends favor short-term contracts
(5-7 years) during which the private sector manages plant while public sector learns the
operation in preparation to take over when the contract ends; a Council Member's
concern about the City being in the desalination plant business; TCEQ establishes
maximum limits of how much can be discharged; a recommendation to use a skilled and
experienced private sector for the first five to seven years; and the City of Corpus Christi
has been treating water for over 100 years.
Texas Water Development Board: Director of Finance Heather Hurlbert and Freese &
Nichols Professional Engineer, Jorge Arroyo presented information on the following
topics: the nitty gritty of SWIFT II; City's timeline; project due diligence; and the City has
been approved through the SWIFT program for $222.4 million for the design,
engineering, permits and construction of a potential desalination plant.
Council Members, Director Hurlbert, City Manager Peter Zanoni, Mr. Arroyo, Director
Norton, and Water Resource Manager Ramos discussed the following topics: staffs
request for an extension of the August 2021 deadline; the drought surcharge will produce
about $5.8 million annually; the project is eligible to receive state funding once it is
included in the regional water plant; there is a minimal rate impact for the desalination;
there is a separate water fund and a separate waste water fund; and the extension in
August 2021 will not obligate us to the financial commitment until August 2022.
What if? Possible Alternatives: Water Resource Manager Esteban Ramos and
Environmental Engineer Maria Corona presented information on the following topics:
Option A - desalination; Option B -groundwater; Evangeline - groundwater; Dimmit Utility
WSC - groundwater; Option C - water reuse; Option D - Aquifer Storage and Recovery;
in summary; helpful documents; and 2021 goals for seawater desalination.
Council Members, Water Resource Manager Ramos, Environmental Engineer Corona,
Water Globe Consultants Nikolay Voutchkov, and WSP Procurement and Contract
Expert Neil Callahan discussed the following topics: groundwater is a difficult alternative
because it involves individual groundwater conservation districts with individual boards to
get permits from; chloride is customer based and could affect the taste of water;
groundwater would be take or pay contracts; the drought surcharge could not be used for
take or pay contracts; there is no pricing included for Dimmit Utility because they did not
provide any background information to verify that the cost is less than $3 per thousand
gallons; the ultimate capacity is 30 MGD for Inner Harbor and 40 MGD for La Quinta;
permit requirements have volume limitations, but not salinity limitations; a Council's
Member's request for an environmental evaluation on Inner Harbor and La Quinta; a
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Council Member's request for a Request for Proposal (RFP) on other options, as
opposed to just a Request for Information (RFI); Mary Rhodes pipeline is producing about
43 MGD, so in order to increase capacity by 30 MGD, an upgrade of tanks, new pumps
and electrical costs would be needed and could cost up to $20 million; and the La Quinta
site is a better location than the Inner Harbor in terms of environmental impact and
capacity.
D. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:23 p.m.
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