Over the last few months, levels at the two primary reservoirs that supply the Coastal Bend have been slowly falling since a sudden influx of water in August saved Corpus Christi from the cusp of a water emergency.
The Coastal Bend’s water supply comes from two regional sources, which Corpus Christi city officials refer to as the western and eastern water supplies. In the east lie Lake Texana, the lower Colorado River, and the Mary Rhodes Pipeline. But, the bulk of the region’s water comes from its western supplies — Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi, which are fed by the Nueces and Frio rivers. According to Corpus Water Levels, the combined water level at the two western reservoirs is just 37.1% as of November 6.
The two reservoirs have been going down gradually since late summer, when the runoff from July’s torrential rains replenished them. Prior to this summer’s rains, the two reservoirs had plummeted to historically low levels that threatened to make Corpus Christi the first city in the United States in modern history to declare a water emergency.
Lake Corpus Christi reached a low of 8.3% in mid-April, while Choke Canyon — the larger of the two reservoirs — fell to 7.4% in mid-May. July’s rains brought the two reservoirs up to a combined level of just over 40%. That capacity is about 3 percentage points lower…