Years of drought have driven Corpus Christi, Texas, into a worsening water-shortage fight that could force residents and businesses to reduce usage and constrain operations at major oil and gas facilities in a major energy port. Officials say key reservoirs are at their lowest levels ever and that the drought has persisted for most of the past seven years. Even as the city continues to tap additional supplies, leaders say the timing and severity of any emergency response depend heavily on rainfall and on whether new sources can be approved and brought online.
City manager Peter Zanoni, who has led the city since 2019, said the crisis reflects more than unusual weather, telling the public that the city did not keep pace with its long-term water needs. “We just have not kept up with water supply and water infrastructure like we should have. And it’s decades in the making,” Zanoni said. He added that the city believes it is “highly unlikely” it will run out of water, but he warned that without significant rainfall or new sources, residents could face forced cutbacks and industry could have to use less.
The shortage is complicating life in an area tied closely to the oil and gas sector. Corpus Christi is a city of about 317,000 people that also supplies water to nearby counties, and the region produces fuel and industrial materials while shipping them worldwide. Zanoni said industry could be affected even as the broader United States energy market is already facing pressure, with drought conditions hitting an area that produces about 5% of the gasoline supply in the country.
Officials said the city’s plans are geared to avert the worst-case scenario, but residents and environmental advocates are pressing for faster action and for a stronger sharing of sacrifices from large water users. Corpus Christi’s drought plan uses stages that move from voluntary steps to tighter restrictions. The city is in Stage 3, which means it has pauses on many outdoor water uses, and residents have complained about limits on lawn watering as well as expected increases in bills and potential fines.
Isabel Araiza, a co-founder of a grassroots group active on water issues, said many residents are angry that they do not see industry being asked to share in the pain. She argued that the city’s system allows major customers to reduce the risk of facing sharp curtailment by paying a permanent surcharge that is tied to the drought plan’s approach to extra charges. Araiza said once industry pays the surcharge, “they have no incentive to conserve water,” adding that the approach functions unfairly.
City officials have defended their rate structure, saying in a statement that industry does not “get a pass on water conservation” or forced curtailment. The city said those business surcharges have raised $6 million a year. Bob Paulison, executive director of the Coastal Bend Industry Association, said the city’s description does not reflect what companies are doing, adding that firms have stopped landscaping, recycle water for essential cooling needs, and seek alternative water sources. Paulison also said the city has not imposed extra costs on anyone yet, while Zanoni said water rates may eventually double as the city invests about $1 billion in infrastructure.
The city’s leaders have said the drought plan is time-sensitive, with officials defining a water emergency threshold based on how quickly supply can be matched to demand. Officials said the city has 180 days before water supply cannot keep up with demand, and that an emergency could come as early as May, as late as October, or not at all depending on conditions and new supplies. The biggest uncertainty is whether the Evangeline Groundwater Project—described as a pipeline and about two dozen wells that could add enough water to head off an emergency—receives state approval.
Zanoni said the city hopes water could be flowing from that project as soon as November, but he also noted that new sources can bring drawbacks. He pointed to concerns about water quality and about the risk that too much pumping could deplete groundwater. Officials have tapped into millions of gallons of new groundwater already, and they say they are continuing to add supplies while preparing contingency plans for potential emergency curtailment.
Some decisions from past drought planning are also shaping this response. After the last drought in the early 2010s, the city approved a pipeline extension to bring in more water from the Colorado River and promoted conservation, and water use fell for a period. Zanoni said the city later expanded industrial customers—including a petrochemical plant and a steel mill—when it saw an opportunity, and he said the city had planned for drought but not “this kind of drought.” He also said reservoirs never fully recharged after the earlier drought, leaving the region vulnerable when the current drought deepened.
Earlier discussion about desalination also remains part of the debate. A desalination plant that would remove salt from seawater was recommended in 2016 as a drought-proof solution, but it faced delays over concerns including cost as high as $1.3 billion and environmental impact. Zanoni said, “If the then-city council had followed through on that, we would have had that plant up and running by now.” He added that officials are trying to buy time through the infrastructure and supply options already in motion while they watch the weather.
As officials plan for potentially tighter steps, some industry and water officials said the consequences of emergency cuts could be severe. Don Roach, former assistant general manager of the San Patricio Municipal Water District, said mandatory reductions could disrupt operations quickly, arguing that cutting cooling water to most of these industries would force shutdowns because there is no other way around it. Zanoni said the city’s approach is designed to prevent reaching that scenario and said, “We are hoping we don’t get there, but we don’t work on hope.”