The pond at West Guth Park is noticeably shrinking, revealing patches of mud, rock, and shallow pools where deeper water once stood \u2014 and regular visitors say the change is hard to miss.<\/p>\n
Cooper Chadick, a frequent parkgoer and biology major, says he\u2019s watched the waterline recede more and more over the past several weeks.<\/p>\n
Ducks, Turtles affected as West Guth Pond shrinks<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been to easily probably close to 70 to 100 parks \u2014 city parks and national parks \u2014 over the last several years, and this is one of our favorites,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Chadick adds that the low water levels are more than a cosmetic issue. When ponds drop during long stretches of heat and drought, the entire ecosystem begins to shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when the water temperatures go up\u2026 the pH can change\u2026 the organisms that the ducks feed on can change \u2014 and potentially make them sick and kill the waterfowl because they\u2019re bad food essentially,\u201d Chadick explained.<\/p>\n
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, shrinking ponds can lead to warmer temperatures, lower oxygen, changing pH levels, and a significant drop in available food for wildlife. <\/p>\n
For ducks, geese, and turtles, even a few inches of lost water can make survival more difficult. Research shows drought conditions can reduce food sources by as much as 70 percent and increase disease risk for waterfowl.<\/p>\n
Chadick believes some mitigation strategies \u2014 even short-term \u2014 could help protect the wildlife that rely on the pond.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have the high temperature and the high evaporation rate,\u201d he said. \u201cThey might think about putting a couple dollars into the budget of maybe supplementing this pond when it gets really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City of Corpus Christi Parks & Recreation Department responded to KRIS 6 News, saying the low levels are the result of severe drought and that a long-term improvement project is already underway. Engineers are working with Corpus Christi Water on a groundwater well to help stabilize the pond\u2019s water level and making repairs to the retaining wall to reduce erosion. The project is expected to be completed by Spring 2026.<\/p>\n
The department says staff perform daily maintenance at West Guth Park and note that Texas Parks & Wildlife has previously advised that wildlife are generally resilient and adaptable to changing environments.<\/p>\n
As work continues, parkgoers like Chadick say they hope the pond returns to normal \u2014 both for the community and the animals that depend on it.<\/p>\n
For the latest local news updates, click here<\/a>, or download the KRIS 6 News App. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pond at West Guth Park is noticeably shrinking, revealing patches of mud, rock, and shallow pools where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,31554,31555,31556,31557,4908,31558,31559,31560,18841,31553],"class_list":["post-58541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-deer","tag-ducks","tag-endangered-animals","tag-evaporation","tag-northwest-side-corpus-christi","tag-pond","tag-ponds","tag-turtles","tag-tyrese-boone","tag-west-guth-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58541","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=58541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}