The Flood Didn't End Corpus Christi's Water Crisis

Rain refilled one lake, but the system was not fixed. In July 2026, floodwater pushed Corpus Christi's projected water emergency back to September 2028. Behind that headline, the two reservoirs moved very differently. Lake Corpus Christi climbed past 80%, while Choke Canyon, the larger reservoir, is still under a quarter full. In this video we go through the public record: -the combined percentage that hides which lake filled -the emergency date that kept moving with the weather -a desalination plant that went from $140 million to $1.2 billion and was never built -the sediment, evaporation and industrial demand that rain doesn't change Sources: TWDB, Volumetric Survey of Lake Corpus Christi (2016). This report has the reservoir's capacity and the history of capacity loss from sedimentation. https://www.twdb.texas.gov/surfacewat... TWDB, Volumetric and Sedimentation Survey of Choke Canyon Reservoir (2024 draft). This survey measured the sediment in Choke Canyon. https://www.twdb.texas.gov/surfacewat... TWDB Report 104, Water-Loss Studies of Lake Corpus Christi. This is the historic study of water lost to seepage and evaporation. https://www.twdb.texas.gov/publicatio... USGS, Sedimentation in Lake Corpus Christi, Texas, 1972–85. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/0239/re... NASA Earth Observatory, "Reservoirs Dwindle in South Texas" (2025). These are the satellite images of both lakes from 2021 and 2025. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ima... TWDB, Nueces BBASC study on freshwater inflows and pass-throughs to Nueces Bay. This covers the bay releases. https://www.twdb.texas.gov/publicatio...