Years of drought has major energy port of Corpus Christi, Texas
wrestling with water crisis
[April 13, 2026]
By MICHAEL PHILLIS
In parched southern Texas, a yearslong drought has depleted Corpus
Christi's water reserves so gravely that the city is scrambling to
prevent a shortage that could force painful cutbacks for residents and
hobble the refineries and petrochemical plants in a major energy port.
Experts said the city didn't expect such a bad drought, and new sources
of reliable water didn't arrive as expected. Those problems arose as the
city increased its water sales to big industrial customers.
“We just have not kept up with water supply and water infrastructure
like we should have. And it's decades in the making,” said Peter Zanoni,
the city manager since 2019.
Corpus Christi, a city of about 317,000 people that also supplies water
to nearby counties, is closely tied to its oil and gas industry. The
region makes everyday essentials like fuel and steel and ships them to
the world.
Zanoni said it is highly unlikely the city will run out of water, but
without significant rainfall or new sources, residents may face forced
cutbacks and industry may have to do with less. At a time when the Iran
war is already raising gas prices, the shortage is hitting an area that
produces 5% of the U.S. gasoline supply.
Droughts are common, but this one has dragged on for most of the past
seven years. Key reservoirs are at their lowest point ever. The quickest
fix is different weather.
“We are actively praying for a hurricane,” former city council member
David Loeb said, half in jest. Loeb doesn't want anyone injured, but
after wrestling with previous droughts in his time on the council, he
feels the lack of rain acutely.
The drought isn't expected to lift by summer, leaving officials
scrambling to tap more groundwater to avoid an emergency.
Lessons from last time
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. In the years that followed, water use actually fell. The
city, seeing opportunity, added a petrochemical plant and steel mill to
its long list of industrial customers.
City officials had allowed for drought in their calculations — just not
this kind of drought, Zanoni said. It has hit especially hard because
reservoirs never fully recharged after the last one.
And it's come at a bad time.
After many years, the pipeline extension finally delivered its full
capacity only last year. Meanwhile, discussion of building a
desalination plant that would remove salt from seawater — a potentially
drought-proof solution recommended in 2016 — bogged down over concerns
about costs as high as $1.3 billion and environmental impact.
“If the then-city council had followed through on that, we would have
had that plant up and running by now,” Zanoni said.
It's an industry town
Corpus Christi has followed its long-established plan for reducing water
use. Stage 1 seeks voluntary actions from citizens like taking shorter
showers and limiting how often they can water. Currently, the city is in
Stage 3, which means pauses on many outdoor water uses.
Many residents are angry that they can’t water their lawns, that their
bills are set to rise sharply and that they may face fines, said Isabel
Araiza, co-founder of a grassroots group active on water issues. Some
don’t feel industry will be asked to share in the pain, she said.
The city's drought plan allows for charging residents and businesses
extra if they use lots of water. But big industry, which Zanoni says
consumes as much as 60% of the city's water, can opt to pay a permanent
surcharge to avoid the possibility of having a much larger fee added in
times of drought.
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Gavino Rivera talks about the decline of the Hillcrest neighborhood
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, as he gathers scrap metal near a Citgo oil
refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle
via AP)
 Araiza calls it a bad system. Once
industry pays the surcharge, she said, they have no incentive to
conserve water.
The city has defended the system, saying in a statement that
industry does not “get a pass on water conservation” or forced
curtailment. The statement said the business surcharges have raised
$6 million a year.
It is wrong to suggest industry isn’t helping, said Bob Paulison,
executive director of the Coastal Bend Industry Association.
Companies have stopped landscaping, they recycle water for essential
cooling needs and they are looking for alternative water sources, he
said.
The city hasn't imposed extra costs on anyone yet.
But Zanoni said water rates may eventually double as the city
invests roughly $1 billion on infrastructure — costs that some argue
will disproportionately benefit industry and make life for residents
more expensive.
What's the way out?
The city is in a water emergency when it has 180 days before water
supply can't keep up with demand. Officials have run through
different scenarios for getting new water and the drought easing,
and have said an emergency could come as early as May, as late as
October, or not at all.
The city has tapped into millions of gallons of new groundwater, and
it hopes to get even more.
The biggest unknown is the Evangeline Groundwater Project, which
involves a pipeline and about two dozen wells that could add enough
water to head off an emergency. It still needs state approval but
the city hopes water could be flowing as soon as November. New
sources come with drawbacks – some have raised water quality
concerns, and there are worries too much pumping could deplete
groundwater.
If the city has to declare a water emergency, it would be able to
more aggressively curtail water use – mandatory reductions that
would apply evenly to all industry and residents. That is a
sensitive decision and is likely to be a “knock-down drag-out
bloodbath,” Loeb said.
Because residents on average have already reduced their water use,
future mandatory cuts are likely to fall heavier on industry.
“It’ll be an unbelievable disaster,” said Don Roach, former
assistant general manager of the San Patricio Municipal Water
District that has lots of industrial customers in the area. “When
you cut the cooling water off to most of these industries, they just
have to shut down. There’s no other way around it.”
Paulison said companies that produce fuel, polymers, iron and steel
“have the least amount of flexibility in just cutting water usage.”
He added, however, that companies remain optimistic they can reduce
usage, adapt and continue operations.
Zanoni said the city's plans should buy time to avert the worst.
“We are hoping we don’t get there, but we don’t work on hope,” he
said.
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