EDITORS NOTE: This story has been updated to clarify how the city's industrial drought surcharge exemption works. Paying the exemption fee does not exempt industry from drought restrictions.
A new citizen-led petition launched Wednesday would allow Corpus Christi voters to decide whether large industrial water users should be required to pay drought fees and follow the same conservation rules as residents during drought.
The petition effort is being led by Texas Campaign for the Environment (TCE) and For the Greater Good, along with a coalition of local residents and community advocates.
Supporters gathered at City Hall to kick off the campaign, arguing that residents are already asked to cut back when water supplies tighten and that industrial users should be held to the same standard.
“We have decided to reclaim the sovereignty over the mismanagement of our water,” said Chloe Torres, with TCE.
Organizers also cited city data they say shows industry provides a small share of local jobs while using a majority of the city’s water supply.
"Industry accounts for only 4-percent of the jobs and uses 60-percent of the water." said District 2 Councilwoman, Sylvia Campos, who's also a founding member of For the Greater Good.
The proposed charter amendment would repeal a city ordinance that allows qualifying industrial water users to pay a drought surcharge exemption fee, which exempts them from certain Stage 2 and Stage 3 drought surcharges if those surcharges are ever levied. The exemption does not exempt industrial users from drought restrictions or conservation requirements.
The drought surcharges tied to the exemption have never been levied by the city, meaning the surcharge exemption has not been used in practice.
Supporters acknowledge the proposal is not a quick fix to save water but say it removes what they view as unequal treatment if drought surcharges are imposed in the future.
“If there’s no water, there’s no industry,” Torres said. “But there’s also no mom-and-pop shops and no tourism economy, which has been the lifeblood of this city for a long time.”
To qualify for the ballot, organizers must collect signatures from about 5% of registered voters — roughly 10,000 people — which would require City Council to place the proposed amendment before voters in November 2026.
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