CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi is dominating national headlines as a mounting water crisis threatens the roughly 500,000 residents across the region.
The situation has drawn the attention of national outlets, with reports highlighting potential plans to declare a Level One Water Emergency that could force all residents and businesses to cut usage by 25%.
NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas released a report on Friday, interviewing City Manager Peter Zanoni.
More Perfect Union, a non-profit journalism outlet, released a 16 minute piece that summarizes the timeline and perspective from city leaders, industry representatives, and residents.
Other articles, like one from Futurism, offer perspectives from climate scientists.
For longtime residents, the negative national spotlight is frustrating.
"You feel like a chastised child," Tom Rogers said.
Rogers has lived in Corpus Christi for 50 years. He has a home on the city's Southside with his girlfriend and two dogs.
"We love this city," Rogers said.
However, he is disappointed in local leaders, saying they allowed the area to run out of so much water that it has become a national spectacle.
"It's disheartening. As a lifelong resident I know how beautiful this city is what it has to offer and the fact that this is all we got... Corpus Christi being portrayed as this is certainly something that makes you sad," Rogers said.
Rogers expressed further frustration over comments made by industry representative Bob Paulison in a recent interview. Paulison expressed to More Perfect Union that there is still time to fix the drought situation.
"That's the most disheartening statement right there. 'Time is not up.' How much worse does it have to get before time is up? We literally have to be out of water? Their cooling towers can't run? We are out of time," Rogers said in reaction to the video.
To do his part, Rogers uses two rain barrels to water his lawn, plants, and home foundation. He fills up a bowl of soapy water before doing his dishes, and he even got rid of his dishwasher to make room for a new refrigerator.
"It works. It works for us we have a small household," Rogers said.
Now that he has done all he can to conserve water, he is calling on city leaders and large-volume users to do the same.
"We've certainly been let down by city leadership.... by big industry. It just seems like everything falls back on us... the citizens of Corpus Christi," Rogers said.
Rogers added that he has considered moving to be closer to his children, but the ongoing drought has made him unsure about selling his house. He hopes city leaders will come together to find solutions.
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