Recent rain helps lake levels, but water supply concerns remain

Despite recent rainfall this week, local leaders say now is not the time to slow down on pursuing water projects.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Recent rainfall across the Coastal Bend is helping raise lake levels, but local leaders say the region’s long-term water concerns are far from over.

The discussion comes after 3NEWS recently reported that the City of Corpus Christi pushed a possible water curtailment date back to December following recent rain.

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While some officials believe the worst of the drought may be ending, city and county leaders say the rainfall should not slow efforts to secure the region’s water supply.

“There’s always an end of everything, and I think the drought that we have in South Texas has ended,” Corpus Christi City Councilman Eric Cantu said.

Despite that optimism, Cantu said the city should continue moving forward with current and future water projects.

“I really don’t wanna slow any projects down. I think we need to do all the projects we can do so we could grow Corpus Christi,” Cantu said.

Corpus Christi City Councilman Mark Scott also said the recent rain does not erase the region’s long-term water issues.

With the Inner Harbor desalination plant vote approaching, Scott said the city must continue advancing water projects to strengthen Corpus Christi’s standing statewide and nationally.

“A lot of people watching us and expecting us to, you know, I think kicking the can down the road is kind of what got us in this mess,” Scott said.

Scott said that mindset applies beyond the upcoming June 2 vote.

“My hope is that we never trust the lakes again,” Scott said. “I am hopeful that the lake levels do not impact our future water projects.”

Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni agreed, saying city leaders cannot afford to repeat past mistakes.

“Lakes fill back up, the city administration, city council tends to back off. We don’t want to do that,” Zanoni said. “We have to remember what we just went through for the past five years and not slow down in any way.”

Meanwhile, Nueces County Commissioner Mike Pusley is urging the city to stop releasing water from nearby lakes into the bay if lake capacity reaches 30 percent.

“Myself and the groundwater conservation guys, we all got together and did some tabletop calculations, and we conservatively estimate that if we had not been releasing water out of those two reservoirs, we’d have another 500 days of water available to our community,” Pusley said.

Pusley said State Rep. Denise Villalobos has spoken with officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality about possible solutions.

“If they could get letters from the city of Corpus Christi, the Nueces River Authority, and the City of Three Rivers, that they could probably move toward not having to do those releases,” Pusley said.

City leaders noted the lakes are still well below the 30 percent threshold. Scott said the city is now hiring experts to conduct a study that will help determine whether future lake water releases into the bay are necessary.