Questions and Answers

What is Corpus Christi's industrial 'drought surcharge exemption fee'?

Since 2018, Corpus Christi has allowed large industrial water users to pay a fee in exchange for an exclusive exemption from drought surcharges and some conservation requirements. The exemption fee is .31 per 1,000 gallons. In the current Stage 3 drought, if large industrial users, who consume more water than all other users combined, were instead paying the surcharges set in 2025 by the City Council, their rate would be $6.00 per 1,000 gallons for all water use over 12.8 million gallons per month – about 20 times the exemption fee. This means the City exempts big industry, including some of the world's largest and most profitable energy companies, from paying dramatically higher applicable surcharges that could otherwise be used to finance drought-related costs, while also excusing them from critical conservation obligations.

What is the Fair Water Amendment (FWA)?

The FWA is an amendment to the Corpus Christi City Charter supported by a coalition of local community groups who are currently undertaking a citizen-petition effort to put the proposal on the November 2026 ballot. If approved by voters, the Fair Water Amendment would:

• Eliminate and prohibit any program that exempts large industrial water users from being subject to drought surcharges or drought-stage conservation requirements.
• Require large industrial water users to pay drought surcharges when the existing exemption program terminates after the required five-year notice period.
• Establish the drought surcharge rates for large industrial water users that were adopted by the City Council in March 2025 as a minimum.
• Require large industrial water users to comply with all applicable drought conservation, allocation, and curtailment requirements in the City's Drought Contingency Plan and City Code, once exemption programs are prohibited.
• Apply the same approach to the City's wholesale customers (entities that buy City water for resale), requiring them to collect and remit equivalent drought surcharges from their own large industrial water users, and enforce Corpus Christi's conservation requirements.

Why is the FWA needed?

The Fair Water Amendment delivers fairness and drought management reform. During drought conditions, residents and small businesses are required to conserve and may face fines or surcharges, while the City allows the exempted industrial users to avoid drought surcharges and some conservation requirements. The City Council could vote to repeal the industrial exemption at any time and begin collecting applicable surcharges from large users after a required notice period, but has declined to do so for nearly a decade. The FWA puts the decision in the hands of Corpus Christi voters.

Are industrial exemption programs common?

No, in fact Corpus Christi is the only known city in the world with an exemption program that allows big industrial users to buy their way out of otherwise applicable drought surcharges and water conservation requirements. The lack of any similar program anywhere else on the planet is no surprise: Corpus Christi's exemption fee is intended to finance investments in drought-proof water supplies – specifically, desalination – but in eight years has generated less than 3% of the $1.2 billion projected cost of the Inner Harbor desal plant, while simultaneously removing incentives for the City's largest water users to conserve during droughts. To call it simply ineffective would be generous; it actively undermines effective drought response in Corpus Christi.

Who is considered a large industrial water user by the FWA?

The amendment defines a large industrial water user as a customer of the City, or customer of a City water wholesaler, that uses water for industrial processing, large-scale data-center operations, or large-scale energy generation, and consumes 100,000 gallons or more per day in any monthly billing period. This consumption threshold is identical to the definition in the City ordinance that created the drought surcharge exemption fee.

Does the FWA raise water rates or make drought surcharges mandatory for residents or small businesses?

No. The FWA only applies to large industrial water users, and would not increase water rates or make drought surcharges mandatory for residential, commercial, agricultural or institutional water users. The City Council would retain their current authority to collect drought surcharges from any water customer, but nothing in the amendment, or in state or local law, requires them to do so.

Will the amendment negatively impact economic development or job growth?

Just the opposite. Reliable water supply is foundational to long-term economic development. The FWA ensures that the largest industrial water users participate equitably in managing drought conditions so that Corpus Christi can sustain growth, attract investment, and avoid crisis-driven shortages that harm the entire economy. By strengthening conservation and ensuring fair cost-sharing during drought, the amendment helps protect water availability for homes, schools, hospitals, small local businesses, and future employers. That stability is a long-term economic asset for the region. In short, the FWA ensures no single class of water user can undermine the shared public resource on which the entire local economy depends.

What would be the financial impact on industrial users if the FWA is approved?

Only the very largest industrial water users – those who consume more than 12.8 million gallons per month – would be impacted. For an industrial user who consumes 1 million gallons per day and currently participates in the exemption program, the monthly exemption fee would be $9,300. If the FWA is approved, after the required notice period, the user would pay $103,020 in drought surcharges under current Stage 3 conditions. The more water used over 12.8 million gallons per month, the bigger the differential between the exemption fee and the drought surcharge.

Will the City lose revenue for drought response if the Charter amendment is approved?

No, the City is expected to gain, not lose, revenue if the FWA is adopted. According to Corpus Water, the City has realized around $35 million in total revenue from the industrial drought surcharge exemption fee since its inception in 2018, and the program is projected to generate about $6 million in revenue per year moving forward. That means even if the program – which is intended to fund the development of drought-proof water supplies like desalination – continued for another 20 years, it would still only have generated less than 15% of the projected $1.2 billion cost of the proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant. If the FWA is approved by voters, the exemption program would continue for up to five years, as required by City ordinance, during which time the participants would continue to pay the full exemption fee. Once exemptions are terminated and prohibited, the levy and collection of much larger drought surcharges for big industrial users would take effect, likely resulting in a significant increase in City revenue dedicated to drought response. While the City would lose the exemption revenue and there would be no applicable industrial surcharges if Corpus Christi were to exit drought conditions, the likelihood of ongoing drought is high (the Texas state water plan anticipates that surface water will become increasingly “scarce and unreliable”); the multiple benefits of repealing the exemption during drought stages plainly outweighs the cost of losing revenue during other periods, given especially how inadequate exemption revenue is compared to the cost of water infrastructure.

Is it legal to require only industrial users to pay drought surcharges?

Yes, if the surcharges are based on reasonable, objective classifications tied to water use, system impacts, and conservation goals, and are applied uniformly within that class rather than arbitrarily or as a penalty. Large industrial water users can lawfully be treated as a separate class because they use vastly greater volumes of water, impose disproportionate strain on Corpus Christi's limited water supplies during drought, and have materially different conservation options and operational impacts than other users. Texas courts have repeatedly upheld differential rates and surcharges where the classification is reasonable and supported by factual distinctions, even when only one class is subject to a particular charge. The FWA relies on these legal principles by defining large industrial water users using clear, objective criteria and by applying the same drought surcharges already approved by the City Council in March 2025 consistently within that class.

Is it fair to require only industrial users to pay drought surcharges?

For nearly a decade, the City has given large industrial water users exclusive access to its exemption program; no other class of customer has been allowed to participate. If it was fair to give an exclusive exemption to big industry, it is fair to now require big industry to pay reasonable surcharges. The City Council also retains the option of collecting surcharges from any other water customer at any time. More broadly, it is fair – and legal – to require that water users bear drought-related costs in proportion to their use.

Is it legal to establish surcharge rates for large industrial water users in the City Charter?

Yes. While utility rates are typically set by ordinance, no law prohibits establishing them in the City Charter. It is also now necessary given the City's decade-long pattern of unwillingness to collect drought surcharge fees from large industrial water users in fair proportion to the water they consume. If the FWA is approved by voters and surcharge fees become mandatory for large industry, the City Council would be expected to cut the rates they must then pay, even though the amendment is based on the exact same rates adopted by the Council in 2025. By establishing the 2025 rates as a minimum in the City Charter, City Hall will retain the flexibility to increase industrial drought surcharges if needed to meet drought-related costs, but only Corpus Christi voters would have the authority to decrease the rates.

What is the 'threshold amount'?

Drought surcharges for large industrial water users apply to all use over a monthly threshold amount. The City Council voted in March 2025 to set that amount at 12,842,000 gallons per month, which equates to about 420,000 gallons per day. The Fair Water Amendment preserves the Council's 2025 vote as a maximum, meaning the City would not be able to increase the threshold – and thus apply surcharges to fewer large industrial users – without approval from the voters.

Is it legal to require large industrial water users to meet conservation requirements?

Yes, and appropriate. While large industrial water users are currently subject to certain baseline conservation rules that apply to all customers, the City's drought exemption program expressly provides that participants are exempt from City-imposed water curtailment during Drought Stages 1, 2, and 3, except where curtailment is required by state law. The Fair Water Amendment does not create any new conservation rules but instead requires industrial users to comply with the conservation, allocation, and curtailment requirements already contained in the Drought Contingency Plan and City Code, once exemption programs terminate. The City would retain full authority to adopt or revise conservation requirements for all customers at any time in the future.

Why does the FWA include a five-year notice period?

The City ordinance adopted in 2018 that created the current drought surcharge exemption fee requires that participants be given a five-year notice period prior to program termination. The amendment respects that requirement while making termination mandatory and time-certain.

Does the amendment supersede existing water contracts?

No, the FWA does not require the City to breach or invalidate any existing express contractual terms, but establishes the expectation that all contracts executed after voter approval of the amendment should be fully consistent with its provisions. Beginning with the public launch of the FWA campaign, Corpus Christi voters also have the right to expect that the City should not amend any existing water contracts or enter into new ones before the amendment appears on the ballot in a way that would circumvent its goals if approved.

What happens if the amendment is challenged in court?

The FWA includes a severability clause. If any single provision is struck down, the remaining provisions stay in effect. This protects the core purpose of the amendment, even if a court narrows one section.

Would the FWA apply to reclaimed water?

No. Reclaimed water is a non-potable, recycled supply that reduces demand on the City's limited freshwater resources. The FWA makes a deliberate policy choice to encourage large industrial users to shift to reclaimed water during drought conditions, which helps conserve treated and raw water for essential needs.

If approved by voters, how would the FWA be implemented?

The amendment requires the City Council to adopt conforming ordinances, contract revisions, and enforcement measures necessary for implementation. However, the Council would not be able to weaken the requirements of the Fair Water Amendment without another vote of the people.

What is the process for putting the FWA on the ballot?

The Fair Water Amendment is intended to be placed on the ballot through a citizen-initiated petition process. To qualify, the petition must be signed by at least 5% of registered Corpus Christi voters, which is approximately 10,000 signatures based on current voter registration totals. Each signature will be collected on an official petition form that includes the full text of the proposed Charter amendment and meets state requirements. Once the required number of signatures are gathered, they will be submitted to the City Secretary for verification. If the petition is verified, the City Council will be required to place the Fair Water Amendment on the ballot. The goal of the campaign is to submit a valid petition to the City in time to ensure that the Fair Water Amendment appears on the November 2026 general election ballot, allowing Corpus Christi voters to decide the issue this year.

Who is behind the Fair Water Amendment?

The FWA is being advanced by a coalition of local community groups, including For The Greater Good, Texas Campaign for the Environment, the Hillcrest Residents Association, Chispa Texas, the Coastal Watch Association, the Coastal Bend Group of the Sierra Club, and others. All who support fairness in cost-sharing and conservation obligations during drought conditions are invited to support and join the campaign.

How can I sign the petition or help gather petition signatures?

Send an email to FairWaterAmendment@gmail.com and we'll get back to you right away!