CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi's City Council took action Tuesday to bring the Water Garden downtown back to life.
Their vote authorized a contract with a design firm to come up with a way to fix a design flaw that led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs to the Water Garden in the past. According to Valerie Gray, executive director of Public Works, the new design is expected to cost $1.2 million. That will involve bringing the underground pump house located under the garden out and to the side.
Gray said the Water Garden will not likely be running until next summer.
"We're going to be pretty much rebuilding a small pump station above ground where we were going to have new lights that are going to need to be refurbished. We're going to refurbish the water garden at the same time," Gray said. "So it's more than just fixing it back in the existing spot, in the existing state because the three times that it did flood I believe it was all due to the fact that it was underground."
The vote also includes about $400,000 to refurbish the water fountain located in front of the American Bank Center. Council has determined that funds used for seawall maintenance will cover the costs for the Water Garden and the fountain.