Lake Texana, the smallest of Corpus Christi\u2019s three reservoirs, rebounded from record lows last month when it received its first inflows in eight months. Worst-case projections in mid-April showed the lake going dry<\/a> by summer. Now it should last until early next year, at least.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are pleased to share the positive news,\u201d said Nicholas Winkelmann, chief operating officer of Corpus Christi Water, in a Tuesday announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one small step in a regional water crisis that has developed over decades. But the short bridge that recent rains provided goes a long way to helping the region narrowly avoid a disaster<\/a>, local water planners say. Expectations of a powerful \u201csuper El Ni\u00f1o\u201d event this year suggest that intensely wet weather could return to the Coastal Bend of Texas this fall, potentially putting water into the region\u2019s largest reservoirs, which have fallen to critical levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n El Ni\u00f1o is a cyclical climate pattern driven by warm currents in the Pacific Ocean that shift jet steams and weather worldwide. Typically, El Ni\u00f1o has brought cooler and wetter weather to the Gulf Coast in late fall and winter. This year, record warm water in the Pacific Ocean could produce the strongest<\/a> El Ni\u00f1o pattern in a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n Forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Climate Prediction Center indicate \u201cincreased probabilities of a strong to very strong El Ni\u00f1o possible this fall.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this year, water planners in Corpus Christi worried their reservoirs could empty before El Ni\u00f1o appeared to save them. The recent boost to Lake Texana significantly lowers that likelihood, according to John Michael, an engineering firm executive who has spent 44 years working on water infrastructure in the region.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to get through this year,\u201d said Michael, local vice president of Hanson Professional Services, an engineering firm with offices around the country. \u201cI\u2019m much more optimistic today than I was three months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The city of Corpus Christi initially projected a \u201cLevel 1 water emergency<\/a>\u201d in November. As drought deepened, the city said in March that the emergency could come as soon as May<\/a>. Then in April, it said the emergency would come<\/a> in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n If levels continue to rise in Lake Texana, 100 miles northeast of Corpus Christi and linked to the city by pipeline, it could meet the region\u2019s domestic and industrial water needs well into next year. By that time, planners hope El Ni\u00f1o will end five consecutive years of record-breaking heat and drought.<\/p>\n Dry spells in Texas have been known to conclude with deluges, said Matt Lanza, a longtime Houston meteorologist and co-founder of the website Space City Weather.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had some false starts the last couple years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are hopefully beginning to see the end of the drought in South Texas, but only time can tell.\u201d<\/p>\n Narrowly avoiding a water disaster doesn\u2019t mean that Corpus Christi has solved its water crisis. The region\u2019s largest source of water, the Choke Canyon Reservoir, has received three minor inflow events and zero major inflow in the last 15 years, according to Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon. The next-largest reservoir, Lake Corpus Christi, hasn\u2019t logged inflows in five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both reservoirs combined are about 8 percent full, as the region\u2019s industrial complexes continue to draw large volumes of water daily. A return of moderate rainfall could keep Corpus Christi from emptying its main reservoirs, but it wouldn\u2019t likely fill them up anytime soon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in drought, but we also have the water shortage,\u201d said Juan Pe\u00f1a, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi. \u201cDrought is \u2026 short-term. The water shortage is more long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, Corpus Christi remains at the mercy of rain. Almost all of the city\u2019s emergency water supply projects are hung up with complications and delays. Last week, a state administrative judge sent the permits<\/a> for Corpus Christi\u2019s largest emergency project, in Sinton, about 25 miles north, into a hearing process that could take years. The city had previously said it needed the project to start producing by November and was already laying pipeline.<\/p>\n Corpus Christi also drilled emergency wells<\/a> along the Nueces River but found the water saltier than expected. Now the city is urgently advancing plans for one of the largest groundwater desalination plants in the country, which could treat up to 21 million gallons per day of brackish aquifer water for Corpus Christi\u2019s supply.<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cThe project is critical to avoid the next stage of our drought contingency plan, which is a Level 1 Water Emergency,\u201d Winkelmann told<\/a> the Texas Senate Committee on Water, Agricultural and Rural Affairs during a hearing<\/a> at the state capital last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Winkelmann said, that project also lacks permits.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the Corpus Christi City Council plans to vote on June 2 on a $978 million plan to revive the seawater desalination plant cancelled in September<\/a>. That project remains years from completion.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why super El Ni\u00f1o brings the best chances of salvation for Corpus Christi. The record-breaking Texas drought of 2011-2014 ended with the onset of El Ni\u00f1o. Then 2015 became Texas\u2019 wettest year on record<\/a>. On Memorial Day weekend in 2015, catastrophic flooding<\/a> tore through the Texas Hill Country and the town of Wimberley.\u00a0<\/p>\n Successive years saw disastrous flooding across Texas, including in Houston in 2015, 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery one of those years we had devastating flooding,\u201d said Greg Waller, an operational hydrologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Fort Worth. However, he cautioned, \u201cno two events are exactly alike,\u201d and past weather patterns offer no guarantees for the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n And that period did not refill Corpus Christi\u2019s reservoirs entirely. Choke Canyon hasn\u2019t been full since 2008. Not even super El Ni\u00f1o is guaranteed to solve Corpus Christi\u2019s water problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it will help,\u201d said Pat Fitzpatrick, atmospheric sciences program coordinator at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we will get out of the drought that easily.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAbout This Story<\/p>\n Perhaps you noticed: This story, like all the news we publish, is free to read. That\u2019s because Inside Climate News is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We do not charge a subscription fee, lock our news behind a paywall, or clutter our website with ads. We make our news on climate and the environment freely available to you and anyone who wants it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. We also share our news for free with scores of other media organizations around the country. Many of them can\u2019t afford to do environmental journalism of their own. We\u2019ve built bureaus from coast to coast to report local stories, collaborate with local newsrooms and co-publish articles so that this vital work is shared as widely as possible.<\/p>\n Two of us launched ICN in 2007. Six years later we earned a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and now we run the oldest and largest dedicated climate newsroom in the nation. We tell the story in all its complexity. We hold polluters accountable. We expose environmental injustice. We debunk misinformation. We scrutinize solutions and inspire action.<\/p>\n Donations from readers like you fund every aspect of what we do. If you don\u2019t already, will you support our ongoing work, our reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet, and help us reach even more readers in more places? <\/p>\n Please take a moment to make a tax-deductible donation. Every one of them makes a difference.<\/p>\n Thank you,<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/LakeTexanaCapacityChart2026_750px.png\"\/)
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Corpus Christi\u2019s largest remaining reservoir, Lake Texana, is currently 55 percent full and projected to hit 30 percent this summer. Credit: Dylan Baddour\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4O6A0188.jpg\"\/)
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The city of Corpus Christi is seen on March 4. Credit: Dylan Baddour\/Inside Climate News<\/p>\n![\"Dylan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_0748-2-300x300.jpg\"\/)
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