CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi Water is supplied by two main sources: Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon, but currently, those combined lake levels are depleted to only 30 percent capacity, which would trigger Stage 2 drought restrictions.
But a big rain in the right place could keep that from happening.
Over the next few days, the Coastal Bend is expected to see a whole lot of rain, but two Corpus Christi council members definitely are keeping their eyes on the sky to the west of the city.
That's where the watershed is, and they're hoping that thing gets hit hard by this rain.
The “watershed” stretches from an area northwest of San Antonio and runs down into the Nueces, Frio and Atascosa rivers.
City leaders got an update from the National Weather Service about the coming rain.
"Unfortunately, it's not going to have much of an effect on our watershed,” said Dist. 3 councilman Roland Barrera. “You know, it's not raining in the right places."
Barrera feels that once the city builds its desalination plant, our water worries will be over.
At-large councilman Jim Klein, however, has always been opposed to desalination, and believes that conservation is the key to having a healthy supply of water.
"The quickest fix for what we are in right now is conservation, right?” he said. “So, the public has been asked to conserve water under the current water restrictions, but we have not seen any restrictions placed on industry or any conservation efforts by industry."
Barrera said he expects industry will begin to do its part soon.
"Right now, the idea is for all of us to conserve -- and that includes industry -- and I am confident that they're going to conserve, because we just doubled their water rates recently."
Neither councilman believes that Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni will implement Stage 2 water restrictions any sooner than the 30 percent mark, but it is common to see more rain during El Niño years such as 2023.