Beeville Renews Drought Emergency, Approves $84,169 in Water Work
Beeville’s City Council on Nov. 9 unanimously renewed a drought emergency declaration and approved $84,169.21 in change orders for a temporary water-treatment system, the Bee-Picayune reported.
Beeville’s City Council on Nov. 9 voted unanimously to put a local drought emergency proclamation back in place and to approve three contract changes totaling $84,169.21 on a temporary drinking-water treatment setup, the Beeville Bee-Picayune reported on Nov. 12. The city’s official Highbond meeting portal lists a regular City Council meeting on Nov. 9, 2026. Official minutes and the full agenda packet for that night were not opened for this report.
The paper said the new emergency proclamation addresses continuing drought and strain on the municipal water supply. Gabriela Hernandez, who serves as assistant city manager and city secretary, told the council a declaration had been issued in August, the Bee-Picayune reported, but that the required updates were missed in September and October. Because of that administrative gap, she said, the council had to formally re-establish the emergency designation. The Nov. 9 vote therefore renews a designation that had already been used this year; it is not the first drought proclamation of 2026, and the paper did not describe new watering rules attached to the renewal.
Work on a temporary reverse-osmosis system
The same meeting approved three successive change orders with the contractor ACE United Contracting, the paper said, on a project the city calls the Beeville Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Temporary Wellhead System. That name describes a temporary wellhead plant meant to treat brackish water by reverse osmosis. The Bee-Picayune reported that the contractor has been building a conveyance pipeline from West First Street to the city’s Cleveland site.
Change Order 2, according to the paper, spends $19,900 on a concrete pad to hold up pipe at the terminus of the West First Street line. Change Order 3 spends $11,700 on excavation and soil compaction after the equipment pad was moved, and on a new backup generator. Change Order 4, the largest of the three, spends $52,569.21 on tank pipe fittings for a 30-foot vertical storage tank on West First Street, work the paper said is needed to complete the reverse-osmosis system. Adding those three figures produces $84,169.21, by our math, matching the combined total published by the Bee-Picayune.
The paper reported that the council approved all three adjustments, and the emergency proclamation, unanimously, with no votes against. A change order amends work already under contract. Approving these three amendments on an existing temporary wellhead job is not the award of a new permanent treatment plant, and it does not, by itself, end the drought or close the earlier paperwork gap. Official minutes, if posted later, would be the place to confirm ordinance or resolution numbers and any conditions tied to the proclamation.
The city’s official contact page and its meetings page both list Beeville City Hall at 400 N. Washington Street, Beeville, Texas 78102, with telephone numbers of 361-362-7600 and 361-358-4641 and a fax number of 361-358-0250.
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