CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — A new company claims it can deliver up to 150 million gallons of water a day to the Texas Coastal Bend area — privately funded, cheaper than the Inner Harbor desalination project, and with residents as the first priority.
Corpus Christi City Council voted to move forward with reviewing a business proposal from AXE H2O, a desalination company that brought its pitch to council Tuesday.
"This is a project to deliver abundant drought-proof water for the citizens, for the corporations, for the counties, for the entire Texas Coastal Bend area," Dr. John Olson, chairman of AXE H2O, said.
The company says its proposed desalination plant could produce up to 150 million gallons of water a day at a cost of $6.50 per thousand gallons — and could be operational in as few as two years. For comparison, Corpus Christi Water says the Inner Harbor desalination project's water would cost close to $10 per thousand gallons.
Dr. John Olson, Matthew Burger, and Thiago Campos presented the proposal to council. They say the project would require no taxpayer dollars upfront.
"Privately funded so there is no debt burden there is no issue with additional financing publicly," Olson said.
Olson said residents would be the top priority under the plan.
"The citizens of our communities are absolutely the first priority. But the corporations are critical they fuel the future here. It's a symbiotic relationship," Olson said.
Not everyone on council was immediately convinced. City Manager Peter Zanoni raised questions about the project's pricing.
"We really need to dig deep on their six dollars and fifty cents per thousand gallons that seems extremely low and maybe not even realistic for a seawater desalination plant," Zanoni said.
Council member Sylvia Campos echoed that skepticism.
"It sounds wonderful but it's sort of like.... too good to be true," Campos said.
District 4 Council Member Kaylynn Paxson suggested the Barney Davis Power Plant as a potential site for the facility.
"Barney Davis was voted on pretty much unanimously for council to tell staff to move forward and look at proposals there," Paxson said.
Council member Everett Roy questioned how AXE H2O made it onto the meeting's agenda without first being vetted by the city, but said the region's water needs outweighed his procedural concerns. He was among the six council members who voted to move forward with reviewing the proposal.
"I'm not going to stop a water project because we didn't follow the right procedure. We learn from our mistakes and hopefully we get it right next time," Roy said.
Zanoni said AXE H2O will need to provide land options, permits, and a timeline to give the project more credibility. The AXE H2O team said they are eager to make progress and bring their full proposal to the city.
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