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Corpus Christi

Texas’ Refusal to Plan for Climate Change Created a Crisis in Corpus Christi

Stubbornly unrealistic assessments of the region’s reservoir system turned this year’s drought conditions into an emergency.

By Dylan Baddour

 “The water plan has to be realistic,” said Larry Soward, a former executive director of the Texas Water Commission. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News
John Byrum, executive director of the Nueces River Authority, at the Texas Water Association conference on June 18 in Horseshoe Bay. Credit: Jon Shapley/Inside Climate News

How a Tiny Texas River Agency Plans to Build the Largest Desalination Plant in the Country

By Arcelia Martin, Dylan Baddour
Water sits 30 or more feet below the base of a fishing pier at Lake Corpus Christi on April 28. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Corpus Christi Postpones Water Emergency to December as ‘Super El Niño’ Offers an End to Drought

By Dylan Baddour, Emily Salazar
Hanson Professional Services vice president John Michael at his office in Corpus Christi on Monday. “Let’s hold all of our regional system hostage while they wait for their data center,” Michael said. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Corpus Christi Leaders Believe Data Center Plans May Be Behind Delays to Emergency Water Supply

By Emily Salazar, Dylan Baddour
Elida Castillo, mayor of Taft, Texas, speaks at a city park on March 31. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Disaster Declarations Ripple Through South Texas Amid Water Crisis

By Dylan Baddour, Neena Satija of KUT and The Texas Newsroom, and Emily Salazar of KEDT
One of Corpus Christi’s emergency water wells discharges into the Nueces River on March 31. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Corpus Christi Plans to Declare a ‘Water Emergency.’ What Does That Mean?

By Dylan Baddour, Neena Satija of KUT, and Emily Salazar of KEDT
A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality investigator tested wastewater from Tesla’s Robstown lithium refinery on Feb. 12. Credit: Travis Prater/Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Independent Testing Where Tesla’s Lithium Refinery Discharges Wastewater Found Toxic Metals

By Arcelia Martin
A Weisinger drilling crew makes a pilot hole at the City of Corpus Christi’s eastern wellfield, one of several emergency water projects in the region, on March 31. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Corpus Christi Projects Emergency Water Restrictions in September for Large Industrial Users and 500,000 Customers

By Dylan Baddour
Water levels in Bruce Mumme’s well dropped below his pump last year, leaving him without access to water for three days while he found a technician to lower his pump, which cost thousands of dollars. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Corpus Christi Water Crisis Spurs Stampede on South Texas Aquifers

By Dylan Baddour
Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni speaks during a City Council meeting on Tuesday. Source: City of Corpus Christi livestream

Corpus Christi Cuts Timeline to Disaster as Abbott Issues Emergency Orders

By Dylan Baddour
Corpus Christi’s largest remaining reservoir, Lake Texana, is currently 55 percent full and projected to hit 30 percent this summer. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Water Shortage May Hit Corpus Christi Within Weeks

By Dylan Baddour
James Dodson is looking at the camera with a serious expression. On the table in front of him are maps and documents. Behind him are windows, the shades open, trees beyond them.

After a Decade of Missteps, a Texas City Careens Toward a Water-Shortage Catastrophe

By Dylan Baddour
Love Sanchez, founder of Indigenous People of the Coastal Bend, stands at McGee Beach near downtown Corpus Christi in 2022. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Indigenous Groups Fight to Save Rediscovered Settlement Site on an Industrial Waterfront in Texas

By Dylan Baddour
White whooping cranes in Aransas County, Texas, in January 2025. Credit: Pu Ying Huang / Texas Tribune

The World’s Last Flock of Wild Whooping Cranes Gets More Living Space

By Dylan Baddour
Along Texas' Gulf coast, the oil and gas infrastructure in Corpus Christi. Credit: Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Corpus Christi Folds on Its Desalination Gamble

By Dylan Baddour
A view of downtown Corpus Christi on the South Texas coast. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Corpus Christi Launches Emergency Water Projects as Reservoirs Dwindle and Industrial Demand Grows

By Dylan Baddour
Stagnant water sits below the dry spillway of Falcon Dam in Starr County on Aug. 18, 2022. Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune

Another Hot, Dry Summer May Push Parts of Texas to the Brink

By Dylan Baddour
A crude tanker docks at the Flint Hills Resources onshore export terminal in Corpus Christi. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

Biden Administration Quietly Approves Huge Oil Export Project Despite Climate Rhetoric

By Dylan Baddour
Elida Castillo outside Exxon’s new plastics plant, eight miles from her family home in San Patricio County. Credit: Dylan Baddour

Corpus Christi Sold Its Water to Exxon, Gambling on Desalination. So Far, It’s Losing the Bet

By Dylan Baddour

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