CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to show that the Avina Town Hall is March 6.
Earlier in February, we heard from residents voicing their concerns but the ammonia plant proposed for the Robstown and Calallen area, now city leaders say they were also caught off guard when they were informed of the facilities plans for water usage.
City Manager Peter Zanoni said the City was only made aware of the ammonia plant one week ago. And although its facility won't be inside of city limits, they are planning to use seven million gallons of water per day from one of the city's main water sources.
According to Zanoni, the project — referred to as Nueces Green Ammonia — will be built, owned and operated by Avina Clean Hydrogen.
Avina plans to purchase seven million gallons per day from the Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District 3 which is located in Robstown. WCID #3 currently has a contract with the Nueces River for 9 million gallons per day.
The Nueces River is also the same primary source for Corpus Christi Water and its residents.
"They take about two today to service Robstown, mostly residential and commercial accounts," Zanoni said. "Their plan to increase that by 7 million gallons, drawing it from the river without really consulting from us, we know they have the rights to the river water under certain conditions, however, being that the city of Corpus Christi water is a regional water planner and provider we expected some due notice."
He said the city wants to do regional planning and coordinating because the high draw amounts from the river is problematic.
"We are just right at the mark today we are 30.6 percent combined resources reservoir full," Zanoni said. "I suspect that if a big user like Avina was pulling seven gallons we would probably be at Stage 2 and that impacts our 500,000 users that use our water everyday."
According to Zanoni the City is working with their legal team, TCEQ and the regional Watermasters to see what rights are available to the Robstown Water District to grant this promise of 7 million gallons to Avina.
We reached out to Avina for comment, and they sent the following statement:
"Nueces green ammonia is thankful for the partnership we have with NC WCID #3 and excited for the prosperity which can be brought to Nueces County through application of their historic water rights.
Our plant, guided by the equator principals, employs the most advanced water conservation measures and enables critical development of community water infrastructure.
We look forward to working with NC WCID #3 and our other community partners to ensures accountability and minimal environmental impacts in deployment of our project."
Zanoni said there are alternate ways to provide water to Avina if they do come to fruition
He also said until a new water supply can be brought online, the city must carefully manage impacts on our existing sources to avoid shortages or interruptions in service.
For those interested in learning more about Nueces Green Ammonia they are hosting a open house March 6 from 6-8 p.m. at the Richard M. Borchard Fairgrounds.
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