Corpus Christi Braces for Water Crisis as Reservoirs Hit Historic Lows

Even in its frontier days, Corpus Christi struggled with water scarcity. As a camp for General Zachary Taylor’s forces defending newly annexed Texas, the city had barely enough water to sustain its early settlers. The Tejanos, Americanos, and Spanish ranchers relied on arroyos, cisterns, and sulphuric wells, while the native Karankawa people lived nomadically to preserve the region’s limited water resources.

Historian Alan Lessoff, in his book Where Texas Meets the Sea: Corpus Christi and Its History, describes the city’s enduring struggle as an “endless search for a larger and more adequate water supply.” This quest has included damming local rivers, failed reservoir projects, groundwater depletion, regional water district consolidations, and costly efforts to pipe in or produce fresh water from distant sources.

Cities west of the 98th meridian—such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles—have faced similar challenges. But Corpus Christi, never a superlative city, now risks an inglorious distinction: becoming the first American metropolis to run out of water.

Reservoirs at Critical Low, Day Zero Looms

Despite its location on the Gulf of Mexico, Corpus Christi’s fresh water reservoirs are at less than 10% of total capacity. Day Zero is projected for November unless the city receives 20 to 30 inches of rainfall before then—rainfall totals typically associated with hurricanes. For a city desperate for relief, a hurricane may be its only hope.

“You hope for the second-worst thing because it’s better than the alternative,” one resident noted.

Water Quality Crises Deepen the Emergency

The first major warning sign emerged in 2016. Over 10 months—July 2015, September 2015, and May 2016—the city issued 22 days of water-boil notices due to possible E. coli contamination, low chlorine levels, and indicator bacteria suggesting inadequate disinfectant levels. Officials attributed the problems to drought-related restrictions that created “dead zones” in old pipes, allowing bacteria to proliferate between treatment plants and household taps.

Then, on December 14, 2016, the city issued its most severe water advisory yet—a “do not use” order—after a corrosive chemical leaked into the water supply due to backflow from a local asphalt plant. The notice, which banned drinking, tooth-brushing, and showering, lasted four days.

“Our group connected at an emergency meeting and committed to start learning as much as we could about the city’s water policies and problems.” — Isabel Araiza, co-founder of For the Greater Good, a grassroots organization focused on protecting Corpus Christi’s water supply