ROCKPORT, Texas \u2014 The City of Rockport is the latest Coastal Bend community to declare a water shortage emergency.<\/p>\n
Rockport Mayor Lowell Timothy Jayroe issued an emergency proclamation this week for the coastal town of approximately 11,000 residents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rockport is the latest town to declare a water emergency because of ongoing drought conditions in the South Texas region. It is one of nine small local governments in South Texas to make the declaration as water supplies continue to diminish.<\/p>\n
According to the proclamation, Corpus Christi announced that water usage will be cut back by November 2026 if current water supply conditions continue. The Rockport mayor stated that the Corpus announcement is, \u201ccreating a significant risk to Rockport\u2019s ability to meet essential community water needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi supplies water to Rockport under a contract agreement.<\/p>\n
The City of Corpus Christi\u2019s two main reservoirs, Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon, combined at 8.5% capacity.<\/p>\n
This week Corpus City Manager Peter Zanoni told the City Council that another reservoir they rely on \u2014 Lake Texana \u2014 has seen its water capacity rise quickly to 75% because of recent heavy rains.<\/p>\n
Lake Texana was below 50% capacity a few weeks ago. Recent rains have provided little relief from the five-year regional drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrent drought conditions and projected supply shortfalls indicate that immediate action is necessary to conserve, manage, and supplement available water resources,\u201d said Jayroe.<\/p>\n
The mayor continued the statement with, \u201cThe city is taking proactive steps to protect public health, safety, and welfare while pursuing both short-term and long-term solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City of Rockport Emergency Management Plan is now triggered by the proclamation and allows state and federal agencies\u2019 coordination.<\/p>\n
Also involved through the city\u2019s declaration are the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Water Development Board and the Office of the Governor. The multi-agency plan will provide \u201cemergency assistance, technical support, funding opportunities, and regulatory flexibility,\u201d according to state regulations.<\/p>\n
Rockport residents and businesses have been asked to curtail water usage and to remain vigilant for official updates, according to the mayor\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the Corpus Christi City Council approved an initial plan for public water curtailments. If the plan is finalized, different water limits will be set for certain customers, residents, local businesses and industries.\u00a0The council could complete the plan next week.<\/p>\n
If the council approves the curtailment plan, those who purchase water from Corpus Christi, including large petroleum industries, must reduce water usage by 25%.<\/p>\n
If the Corpus Christi regional water supply goes into a Level 1 Water Emergency in November as experts warn, the city\u2019s water supply could run dry six months after it takes effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCKPORT, Texas \u2014 The City of Rockport is the latest Coastal Bend community to declare a water shortage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2160,155,157,156,1570,56,39655,1063,27,1569,2053,835,12386],"class_list":["post-293011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-app-top-stories","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-ctv","tag-houston","tag-john-salazar","tag-local-politics","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-top-stories","tag-vod","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}