CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city of Corpus Christi and the Port of Corpus Christi are taking the state’s advice and combining their efforts to get the most grant money possible to build a desalination plant.
"The fact that the city and port are working together makes us much more competitive than other places in the state," said at-large councilman Mike Pusley.
The City already has secured $220 million in loans for the project but getting grant money would mean less debt once the project gets off the ground.
"We plan on applying for that,” said city manager Peter Zanoni. “We are considering working with the port on a joint application to make ours very strong, and very competitive down here in Corpus Christi."
State lawmakers put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for November asking voters to approve these grants.
"As for the state ‘free money,’ we will take all of the free money we can get if they want to give us money to help us with our water projects,” said at-large councilman Michael Hunter.
The fund already has $1.2 billion.
“I do believe that it would be in our best interest, since we're working together to develop desal to make that application jointly," said Port of Corpus Christi board chairman Charles Zahn.
The City prefers to build a desal plant next to Flint Hills, along the Inner Harbor, while Harbor Island – near Port Aransas -- is the port's top choice.
"We are having meetings right now with an outside consultant on integration options,” Zanoni said. “If there was a plant at Harbor Island, how would it integrate into the city's water system?"
While an exact site is still up in the air, council members are ready to get that free state money.
Zanoni said he expects to have all the information needed to make a desalination site recommendation to the city council later in the fall.