After recent rains replenished reservoirs in the Coastal Bend, the region was able to stave off a Level 1 water emergency that was slated to occur as soon as next month. Had that happened, Corpus Christi would have been the first city in Texas to reach a point where it didn’t have enough water to meet demand.
Instead, heavy rains deluged large swaths of South Central Texas in July and eventually made their way down the Nueces, Frio and Atascosa rivers and into the Coastal Bend’s two largest sources of fresh water — Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi — at the beginning of August. The influx of water was enough for Corpus Christi officials to ease water restrictions and for residents to breathe a sigh of relief after nearly two years of watching every drop. But just how long will the water last, and is the water scarcity threat over?
How much water is in the Coastal Bend’s reservoirs right now?
As of Sunday, August 23, Lake Corpus Christi was 90.8% full, down from its 91.7% peak, while Choke Canyon Reservoir was 23.8% full, down from 24.9%, according to Water Data for Texas. Together, the reservoirs are about 42.5% full, according to data from Corpus Christi Water.
Those levels represent a slight decline from the peaks they reached after last month’s rains. On July 30, Choke Canyon peaked at 24.9% full, while Lake Corpus Christi continued to rise until August 12, when it peaked at 91.7% full. Lake Texana, part of the region’s eastern water supply, was 92.6% full after reaching 100% on July 21.
How low did the Coastal Bend’s reservoirs get?
This spring, Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon fell to critically low levels, which prompted Corpus Christi to increase its reliance on its eastern water supplies. But that, in turn, strained those waterways and fueled projections that Corpus Christi would reach a Level 1 water emergency by November. As the water crisis worsened, that estimate was moved up by two months to September. That would have marked the point that the water supply was 180 days from being insufficient to meet demand…