11 billion gallons of water are at the center of this Texas drought debate

A temporary order allows Corpus Christi to retain more water in its reservoirs. Now, state regulators must decide what happens next.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is considering whether to keep changes in place that allow Corpus Christi to retain more water in its reservoirs during the drought.

RELATED: Corpus Christi moves to Stage 1 water restrictions as TCEQ approves temporary pause in releases

The TCEQ commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday in Austin to decide whether to affirm, modify or set aside an emergency order approved Aug. 25.

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The order temporarily suspends requirements for Corpus Christi to release environmental pass-through water from Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir into the Nueces Estuary.

The 2001 Agreed Order normally requires the city to release water downstream when combined reservoir storage exceeds 30%. The emergency order suspends those requirements while combined reservoir storage is at or below 50%.

State Rep. Denise Villalobos has been pushing for changes to the releases and supports the temporary pause.

“I am 100% for the fight of vacating the releases and I’m 100% in support of this temporary pause,” Villalobos said.

Villalobos said the change could keep more than 11 billion gallons of water in the reservoirs.

“That is over 11,000,000,000 gallons of water. When you hear people come up to public comment and they say our largest water user using all of this water you know how much 11,000,000,000 gallons is? That’s seven times the amount of our largest volume user,” Villalobos said.

Nick Winkelmann, chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, said the city has support from Villalobos and other regional officials.

“We’ve got great support from representative Villalobos, from the rest of our delegation. And we also have other support from the Nueces County WCI Three, the city of Mathis,” Winkelmann said.

The emergency order lasts 120 days, through Dec. 23, 2026, with a potential 60-day automatic extension if reservoir levels remain under 50%.

Ryan Skrobarczyk, intergovernmental relations director for the City of Corpus Christi, said the city will consider its options for a more permanent change.

“We will look at our options going forward. We know that a permanent amendment to the agreed order would require TCEQ to reconvene the Nueces Estuary advisory council and so when that group gets back together, then we’ll look at a more permanent modification to the agreed order,” Skrobarczyk said.

Again, Wednesday’s hearing could determine whether the emergency changes remain in place, are modified or are set aside.