CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Lake Corpus Christi has fallen to just over 10% capacity, and city officials warn it could drop below that threshold for the first time ever this week.
Corpus Christi's city manager is warning the mayor and city council that the city's main reservoir has reached a critical low, and that efforts to bring a new water source online are facing potential delays.
In an email to the mayor and council members, City Manager Peter Zanoni said Lake Corpus Christi was at 10.1% of capacity Monday. He expects the lake to fall below 10% for the first time ever this week.
One potential new water source is the Western Well Field, a project that could provide the city up to 15 million gallons of water per day. Zanoni met with me Monday to explain how crucial the project is ahead of meetings with the mayor and council members this week.
"We're going to show them three scenarios. We had been just showing them one, which is the most optimistic, but we'll show them a worst case scenario if we can't bring on any more water from our Nueces wells into the river," Zanoni said.
Zanoni said the timeline for the Western Well Field project is uncertain, in part because of opposition to a required permit.
"We are beholden to a bed and banks permit and there's certain requirements of monitoring. If we can't bring on the western well field in the May time frame, we know there's several persons that have protested, that bed and banks permit. Protest may not be the right word but they've signed up to object to it. So we have to see what does that mean in terms of issuing the permit. Best case scenario is May but it could take longer, depending on the number of persons who signed up in opposition to it," Zanoni said.
Zanoni also told the mayor and council that throughout the entire month of March, he will meet with Corpus Christi Water and others to focus on the potential for a Level One water emergency. The first meeting was held Monday, March 2. Additional meetings will be held every Monday and Saturday in March. Zanoni will also hold one-on-one meetings with council members this week.
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