Big picture
Corpus Christi Water supplies roughly 85 million gallons per day (MGD) across its seven-county service area. Industry now uses more than half of that water, while residential per-person use has been trending down.
Important: Customer-level meter data are not public. Values below combine
reported numbers (for example, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures at 12.5 MGD and
GCGV + Valero together at 25% of total use) with
planning-grade estimates for other facilities and user groups so that the totals
match the observed 85 MGD system demand.
2025 water use by user group and major industrial customers
| Rank | User group / customer | Type | Est. 2025 avg use (MGD) |
Share of 85 MGD | Basis / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residents (households in CCW service area) | Municipal – residential | ≈30 | ≈35% | Residential per-capita use has declined in recent years, but households still represent a major share of total demand. This value is consistent with Texas Water Development Board municipal patterns and local reporting that residential use has fallen while industrial use has grown. |
| 2 | Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (ExxonMobil / SABIC) | Industrial – plastics complex | 12.5 | ≈15% | Public reporting states that GCGV needs 12.5 MGD to operate and, together with Valero, accounts for about 25% of the area’s daily water use. |
| 3 | Valero Refining – Texas, L.P. | Industrial – refinery | ≈8.8 | ≈10% | With GCGV + Valero together at roughly 25% of 85 MGD (~21.25 MGD), subtracting GCGV’s 12.5 MGD yields an estimated ≈8.8 MGD for Valero. A 30-year agreement will supply up to 8 MGD of reclaimed water to Valero, shifting part of this demand off potable supplies over time. |
| 4 | Flint Hills Resources | Industrial – refinery | ≈7 (est.) | ≈8% | Large refinery with a reclaimed-water agreement for up to 2 MGD of treated wastewater. Total water footprint is higher; this estimate is chosen so that the industrial subtotal matches the observed “more than half” of system demand. |
| 5 | Citgo – Corpus Christi | Industrial – refinery | ≈6 (est.) | ≈7% | Refinery explicitly included in refinery-row industrial planning. Magnitude inferred from facility scale and the need to close the industrial block while keeping totals at 85 MGD. |
| 6 | Other industry (OxyChem, CC Polymers, Tesla lithium, hydrogen, etc.) | Industrial – mixed | ≈12 (est.) | ≈14% | Multiple existing and new facilities (OxyChem, a private desal plant at CC Polymers, Tesla’s lithium refinery, hydrogen projects) are each described as using or planning to use “millions of gallons per day.” Together, they fill out the remaining industrial share so that industry totals roughly 46–47 MGD. |
| 7 | Commercial, small business, institutions | Municipal – non-residential | ≈6 (est.) | ≈7% | Offices, retail, restaurants, schools, and hospitals. Typically a modest but important share of municipal demand; sized so that residents + commercial align with municipal totals in statewide data. |
| 8 | Other uses (power, irrigation, mining, system losses) | Other | ≈3 (est.) | ≈4% | Steam-electric power cooling, limited irrigation and mining, and distribution losses. A small slice in this urban/industrial-heavy system, sized to close the 85 MGD total. |
| 9 | Total – all users | – | ≈85 | 100% | Matches reported regional daily use for the Corpus Christi Water service area (about 500,000 people and businesses). |
How to read this chart: GCGV and Valero are anchored by reported numbers.
Flint Hills, Citgo, “other industry,” commercial, and “other uses” are planning-grade estimates
chosen so that (1) the total equals 85 MGD and (2) industry accounts for just over half of
all water use, as reported by Corpus Christi Water and the Texas Water Development Board.