Water and Climate Resilience

Years of severe drought have pushed Corpus Christi, Texas, into a water crisis that city officials warn could soon force mandatory cutbacks for residents and constrain the refineries and petrochemical plants that produce about 5% of the nation’s gasoline. The South Texas city of roughly 317,000 people, which also supplies nearby counties, has seen its key reservoirs fall to record lows after nearly seven years of largely dry conditions and never fully recovered storage from the last major drought in the early 2010s. City Manager Peter Zanoni says it is “highly unlikely” Corpus will literally run out of water but concedes that without major rain or new supplies, households will face stricter limits while big industrial users — which consume up to 60% of the water — may have to operate with less, even as Iran‑war‑related disruptions already pressure fuel markets. Officials are scrambling to drill more groundwater wells after years of delay on a recommended seawater desalination plant, whose projected $1.3 billion price tag and environmental concerns stalled construction, and residents are chafing under Stage 3 outdoor‑use bans and looming bill hikes they fear will not be shared equitably by industry. The episode exposes how decades of under‑investment in resilient water infrastructure, aggressive industrial expansion, and reliance on a single drought‑sensitive supply system can turn a regional dry spell into a national energy risk.