Study: Corpus Christi water reservoirs to run dry by mid-2026

By Beatz Alvarado

Highlights:

• The Corpus Christi City Council learned that our "workhorse" water supply – Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon – will likely be depleted by mid-2026.
• The city hired Carollo Engineers to forecast water levels for the Nueces River Basin and results were shared with the city council in January and February.

Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon will likely be depleted by August 2026, according to a study in an internal city memo sent to the Corpus Christi city manager and council on Valentine’s Day. 

Carollo Engineers was hired by the city to develop a reservoir model to forecast water levels in the city’s Nueces River Basin. The model accounts for net evaporation, stream inflows, and downstream. 

District 2 councilwoman Sylvia Campos said the council had not been briefed on the matter and how it relates to ongoing discussions on new emergency water sources now being pursued as aggressively as desalination. 

The City of Corpus Christi’s water department, or Corpus Christi Water (CCW), is the primary water provider for residents and public services, commercial businesses and a wide variety of water-intensive industrial projects in the Coastal Bend.

City staff have referred to the Nueces River Basin water supply, consisting of Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi water, as our “workhorse” water supply.

In addition to the two Nueces River system reservoirs, the city also receives water from Lake Texana and the Colorado River through the Mary Rhodes Pipeline. Corpus Christi owns 100% of the impounded water rights on Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi.

The Chief Operating Officer of the City of Corpus Christi’s water department, or Corpus Christi Water (CCW), recently presented a set of five new emergency water supplies that would allow Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi to rest while we wait for rain. 

“What does this do? It buys us time," said CCW COO Drew Molly during the Jan. 28 city council meeting. "Some people will say that what this does is it allows our Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi reservoirs to rest. It may sound a little corny but that’s what it is … they are going to fill back up it’s just a matter of time. We are going to get rain and those reservoirs will fill back up.”

The City of Corpus Christi enacted stage 3 drought restrictions in December. Stage 3 is triggered when water levels from Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi drop below 20%. We rely solely on surface water from the Nueces River Basin in the west and the Lavaca Navidad Watershed in the east. 

Expedited access to water will be the Corpus Christi City Council’s primary topic of discussion in the coming months. Council spent most of its Jan. 28 meeting, which lasted about 10 hours, discussing how to best navigate the worsening drought. And a deadlock was reached on a vote to adopt the city’s new Drought Contingency Plan during the Feb. 11 meeting. 

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.