After heavy rains inundated South Central Texas in July, hundreds of millions of gallons of stormwater runoff flowed down the Nueces and Frio rivers to replenish the Coastal Bend’s reservoirs, which had been on the brink of running dry. The sudden influx was enough for officials in Corpus Christi to lift the stringent water restrictions that had been in place since December 2024.
On August 4, Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni officially lifted Stage 3 restrictions. About three weeks later, as water levels continued to hold steady at the region’s two largest reservoirs — Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi — Zanoni further eased restrictions. Since August 25, nearly half-a-million people across seven counties who rely on the city for water have remained under Stage 1 water restrictions. But the two reservoirs are still about as full as they were in August, so why are some water restrictions still in place?
Before the July rains, Corpus Christi had been about a month away from declaring a Level 1 water emergency. That would have marked the moment the city was six months away from being unable to meet the demand for water. And it would have put Corpus Christi on track to becoming the first city in modern-day America to run out of water. While the rains provided a reprieve from the crisis, they did not solve the Coastal Bend’s long-term water woes. And eventually, water levels at the reservoirs will again plummet.
What are the Coastal Bend’s lake levels right now?
According to Water Data for Texas, a water tracking tool managed by the Texas Water Development Board, Choke Canyon Reservoir, the region’s largest, was about 21.6% full as of Friday, October 16. That’s a decrease of about 3.3% compared to the peak of the August rebound…