The City Council in Corpus Christi, Texas, voted Tuesday to set aside a plan that could require residents and refiners to cut their water usage by 25 percent.
The decision followed a barrage of pushback from citizens in South Texas about how curtailments could affect everything from the number of times they bathe to how hospitals would operate.
Officials in Corpus Christi estimated at a public meeting that the region could face a water emergency by September, which would trigger the water curtailments. The coastal city’s water supplies have been pushed to the brink by a yearslong drought and a growing industrial sector.
“I’m looking at my husband saying, ‘Are we showering together or what?’” said Susan Gonzalez, a small business owner who has a household of four, during public comments Tuesday. “We’re looking at the toilet and we’re like, ‘Do we flush? Do we not flush?’ We are doing our part, but there’s just no way that I can cut 5,000 to 6,000 gallons [a month].”
