CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — Raw, untreated groundwater from a test well being considered as a potential drinking water source for Corpus Christi shows radioactive contamination and arsenic levels that exceed federal safety standards, according to laboratory testing obtained by KRIS 6 News.
A proposed brackish groundwater deal near Driscoll that could bring up to 10 million gallons of water daily into Corpus Christi's water supply has been proposed by the South Texas Water Authority (STWA).
STWA has a deal in place with Seven Seas Water Group, a private company that already operates Texas' first public-private desalination plant in Alice, to provide three million gallons of water daily.
Seven Seas Water Group states in the laboratory report that "it has not been determined whether this specific test well will serve as the source of raw water for the proposed brackish water reverse osmosis facility."
The company says the final water system would blend water from multiple wells, "resulting in a blended composition that will differ from the results presented here for a single well."
Yet these are the only water quality results available to the public as Corpus Christi officials have faced pressure to commit ratepayers to a deal that could span decades — a deal where the actual source water quality, treatment costs, and final water composition remain uncertain.
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The test results, dated September 9, 2025, show the untreated water sample collected in August from the test well near Driscoll contained:
- Uranium: 34.7 picocuries per liter — exceeding the EPA's maximum contaminant level by nearly 1.75 times
- Gross alpha radiation: 48.3 pCi/L — more than three times the EPA limit of 15 pCi/L
- Arsenic: 19 micrograms per liter — nearly double the federal limit of 10 µg/L
The water also showed extreme salinity:
- Total dissolved solids: 1,800 mg/L — more than three times recommended levels
- Sodium: 830 mg/L — over 41 times the EPA's health advisory for people with heart conditions
- Chloride: 520 mg/L — more than double recommended levels
- Sulfate: 770 mg/L — more than triple recommended levels
This Is Raw Water Before Treatment
The laboratory report emphasizes throughout that these results represent "raw, untreated water" before any treatment process.
At an October 3, 2025 City Council workshop, Corpus Christi's interim Water Chief Operating Officer Nick Winkelmann acknowledged the contamination but emphasized that treatment would remove it.
"The parameters that were identified, that were over the maximum contaminant levels, they are removed by reverse osmosis," Winkelmann said. "Some of those parameters that were over the MCL or maximum contaminant level, that was arsenic, it was uranium, it was gross alpha. Those are radionuclides that are naturally found in geologic formations and in groundwater, but all of those are removed by the reverse osmosis treatment system."
While reverse osmosis can remove these contaminants, treating highly radioactive and extremely salty water is expensive, energy-intensive, and produces concentrated radioactive waste brine that must be disposed of. The worse the starting water quality, the higher the treatment costs — costs passed to ratepayers.
"Why Would You Need to Know That?"
The water quality results arrive months after Corpus Christi city officials struggled to get basic information about the proposed project, according to a meeting recording obtained by 6 Investigates through a Texas Public Information Request.
In an August 2025 meeting at City Hall, Assistant City Attorney Janet Whitehead asked: What do the water quality tests show?
Seven Seas Chief Commercial Officer Oliver Wiese responded: "No, we don't [have reports]. But I also have to say, why would you need to know that?"
"We're trying to do our due diligence to figure out what is the price of this water and we need help," Drew Molly, then-Corpus Christi Water's Chief Operating Officer, told the group. The city was weeks from a council deadline, yet they were "talking about a project that we have no water quality data on. We don't know what the cost is, and we don't know what the schedule is."
City Attorney Miles Risley warned: "We've had a lot of water proposals pitched to us that aren't really viable. And what we know is if we buy into a water project that isn't really viable, we kill off a lot of other projects... We're out there chasing a dog that ain't gonna hunt."
Council Members Voice Concerns About Transparency
The project has raised red flags among city council members who initially supported it.
"I really thought that they had all their ducks in a row. I really did. I was sold just like everybody else," District 2 Councilmember Sylvia Campos told KRIS 6 News in August. "Well, come to find out that that is not true."
The contract is so heavily redacted that city staff had to sign non-disclosure agreements just to review terms. KRIS 6 News has challenged these redactions with the Texas Attorney General, arguing the public has a right to see the details.
"I don't have any problem with providing all the information...anything that we sign in contract will be fully available to anybody to review," District 5 Councilmember Gil Hernandez told KRIS 6 News, though he deferred questions about the redactions to South Texas Water Authority, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Project Scaled Back, But Questions Remain
The project has quietly shrunk from its original promises. While initially promoted as 30 million gallons per day, it's now scaled back to 10 million gallons per day with potential expansion — if studies confirm sufficient water is available.
Seven Seas CEO Henry J. Charrabé previously told KRIS 6 News: "We think we can deliver up to 30 MGD, but this needs to be confirmed, again, with the availability of brackish water in the aquifer."
An analysis presented to City Council in July revealed the project could cost over $3 billion over 30 years.
Cost Estimates Remain Uncertain
Hernandez told KRIS 6 News in August that Seven Seas water would likely cost between $5-$6 per 1,000 gallons, including energy costs, compared to current treated water costs of around $3.05-$3.06 per 1,000 gallons.
"They put kind of a top limit on it being $5.50 per 1000 gallons. I think it'll be less than that," Hernandez said, adding that energy costs could add another $1.50 per 1,000 gallons based on the Alice plant's operations.
But an audio recording obtained by KRIS 6 News reveals the actual cost remains unknown. At the August meeting, neither South Texas Water Authority nor Seven Seas could provide firm pricing despite public promises.
Brine Disposal Challenges
The project's waste disposal plans have also shifted.
Kleberg County Judge Rudy Madrid publicly claimed the project would "discharge millions of fresh water a day into Baffin Bay" to "refresh the bay," sparking outrage from the fishing community.
"We had an overwhelming backlash from the fishing community," Campos told KRIS 6 News. "We had over 75 people say...not in Baffin Bay."
South Texas Water Authority has since voted to take Baffin Bay discharge off the table. Now Seven Seas says deep well injection — pumping brine underground — may be an option.
But a recording obtained by KRIS 6 News reveals Seven Seas' own concerns about that method:
"There are challenges with that. In West Texas, they've been doing that for a long time. They're having seismic issues. Also, it's highly energy intensive to force water down," a Seven Seas representative said. "Not to say it's not an option, but it is not the most economical or efficient way."
With water quality results now showing radioactive contamination in at least one test well, the brine disposal challenge becomes more complex. The reverse osmosis process would concentrate uranium, gross alpha radiation, arsenic, and salts into waste requiring disposal.
Near the end of the August City Hall meeting — before any water quality tests were available — an unidentified city staffer summarized: "There is no cost. Everything that has been said to this point on August 1st, there is no engineering completed on the 30 MGD facility. There's no water quality to this point for a 30 MGD facility. There's no hydrology for a 30 MGD facility. There is no decision on the brine discharge for a 30 MGD facility. So, there is no information as of August 1st for this entire project."
Understanding the Contaminants
These are levels found in raw, untreated water from a single test well that may not be used:
Gross Alpha Radiation: Measure of radioactive elements. Long-term exposure increases cancer risk. Found at more than 3 times EPA limit.
Uranium: Naturally occurring radioactive heavy metal. Can damage kidneys and increase cancer risk. Found exceeding EPA limits.
Arsenic: Toxic element that increases cancer risk. Found at nearly double EPA limit.
Reverse Osmosis Treatment: Process that forces water through membranes to remove contaminants. Concentrates removed contaminants into waste brine requiring disposal. More contaminated source water means higher costs and more hazardous waste.
The final treated water would need to meet all EPA standards. The company states treatment will remove these contaminants, but treatment costs and brine disposal challenges increase with contamination levels.
KRIS 6 News has asked the South Texas Water Authority for comment, but it did not immediately respond to requests for comment. This story will be updated with any response from STWA.
