CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Corpus Christi is currently in Stage 1 water restrictions, however recent rain increased the combined lake levels of the city's two largest water sources.
Corpus Christi has four water sources, which includes Lake Corpus Christi, Choke Canyon Reservoir, Lake Texana and the Colorado River.
Since the city provides raw and treated water to hundreds of thousands across the Coastal Bend, it matters how full those sources are.
"These four water supplies make up the water availability or water supply for approximately 500,000 customers or communities within the Coastal Bend," said Esteban Ramos, Corpus Christi Water water resource manager.
Ramos manages the water supply needs of the city. His team provides information that can be passed on to City Manager Peter Zanoni when determining the Drought Contingency Plan.
The plan determines drought restrictions by tracking combined lake levels of two of the four sources.
"Our backbone, what we depend upon, what will carry us through the hard times, and the drought times is that reservoir capacities at Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon," Ramos said.
Combined water levels at Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon increased to 45.7%, according to waterdatafortexas.org. That's up from 42.4% one month ago.
For Stage 1 water restrictions to end, that number needs to be 50%. If it drops below 30%, the city will enter Stage 2. Ramos encourages the public to always conserve water and said that good practices can help.
"You don't want to water during the middle, hottest part of the day because your plant is going to take it up, it's just going to evaporate," Ramos said. "The little things that we can do will help us through this drought situation that we find ourselves in."
The manager explained that he is hopeful for more rain in the coming months, based on forecasts from the National Weather Service. Ramos said Corpus Christi having multiple water sources helps prepare for droughts now and in the future as the city continues to grow.
"Corpus Christi and the surrounding area is a vital community; we want people to come and work and stay and prosper," Ramos said. "We need to make sure that we have a supply of water, the basis of life that we can supply to everybody so that their needs can be met."
Ramos added that he is always looking at river flow, lake levels, talking to the team at the O.N. Stevens Water Treatment Plant and others in the region.
That is how he said Corpus Christi Water can better deliver water to its customers around the Coastal Bend.
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