CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A citizen-driven charter amendment that would end special drought exemptions for the city’s largest industrial water users is headed to voters on Nov. 3, after supporters collected nearly 13,000 signatures and the City Council voted 6-2 in August to place it on the ballot.
Proposition B, formally titled the Charter Amendment Regarding Industrial Water Drought Surcharge and Curtailment and commonly known as the Fair Water Amendment, would rewrite how Corpus Christi handles water costs and conservation during drought. If approved, it would prohibit exemption programs that currently allow big industrial customers to pay a flat fee of about 31 cents per 1,000 gallons in exchange for avoiding higher drought surcharges and certain conservation rules that apply to residents, small businesses, schools and hospitals.
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Supporters, a coalition of local groups including For the Greater Good, Texas Campaign for the Environment, the Hillcrest Residents Association and the Coastal Bend Sierra Club, argue the current system is fundamentally unfair. Industry accounts for more than half of the region’s water use, they say, yet has been able to “buy its way out” of the same drought-stage costs and restrictions imposed on everyone else. The modest exemption fee has generated roughly $6 million a year — about $30–35 million since 2018 — but critics of the program note that amount covers only a small fraction of the cost of major projects such as the proposed Inner Harbor seawater desalination plant.
Under the proposed amendment, after a required five-year notice period, large industrial users (those consuming 100,000 gallons or more per day for industrial processing, large data centers or large-scale energy generation) would face mandatory drought surcharges matching rates the City Council itself adopted in March 2025: $3 per 1,000 gallons in Stage 2, $6 in Stage 3, and $12 during a water emergency, applied to use above a monthly threshold of no more than about 12.8 million gallons. The same rules would apply to the city’s wholesale customers. Reclaimed water would be excluded, and residential, commercial, institutional and agricultural customers would not face new mandatory surcharges.
“This was a lot of signatures,” Mayor Pro-tem Kaylynn Paxson said when the petition reached the council. “This is something that doesn’t happen every day.”
Opponents, including some city officials and the Coastal Bend Industry Association, warn of legal and practical complications. City Manager Peter Zanoni has noted that Corpus Christi supplies water across a seven-county region and cannot unilaterally set rates for independent wholesale customers. Losing the steady exemption revenue could force the city to raise rates for other users or find alternative funding for water projects, officials have said. Others argue that locking specific surcharge rates into the city charter reduces the flexibility of future councils and the Drought Contingency Plan. The city attorney’s office previously suggested the measure could be classified as a restricted “climate charter” under a 2023 state law, though a majority of the council rejected that path and ordered the election.
Industry groups have emphasized that large users already contribute significantly to the water system and have invested in conservation and alternative supplies. They caution that abrupt changes could affect major employers such as Valero, ExxonMobil, Occidental Chemical and Flint Hills Resources.
The amendment includes a severability clause so that if any provision is struck down in court, the rest would remain in effect. Legal challenges are widely expected regardless of the election outcome.
Proposition B appears on the same Nov. 3 ballot as the mayoral race, City Council contests and Proposition A, the renewal of the Crime Control and Prevention District. Early voting runs Oct. 19–30. Sample ballots and additional details are available through the City of Corpus Christi’s 2026 Election Central website and Nueces County election resources.
Voters will ultimately decide whether the city’s drought response treats its largest water users the same as everyone else.
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