CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Heavy rain across Corpus Christi on Friday sent water rushing down streets and into storm drains, including those around Louisiana Avenue.
But where does that water go?
In this part of the city, rainwater that runs off streets and other developed areas enters the stormwater drainage system and is carried toward Corpus Christi Bay.
At Cole Park, the Louisiana Parkway outfall serves as a major stormwater outlet for the surrounding drainage area. Water collected by the system eventually reaches the bay there.
The process is part of the city's stormwater system. According to the City of Corpus Christi, rainwater flows off streets, parking lots, construction sites and neighborhoods before entering a network of pipes and ditches. The water's eventual destination includes creeks, bays, estuaries and the ocean.
The concern is that stormwater can carry more than rain.
As water moves across streets and other developed surfaces, it can carry trash and other pollutants into the drainage system and ultimately toward the bay. The Coastal Bend chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has previously highlighted the issue of urban runoff carrying trash through storm drains into Corpus Christi Bay.
Water quality near the Cole Park outfall has also been monitored.
A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality monitoring location, identified as TCEQMAIN-20954, is located in Corpus Christi Bay near Cole Park. The Water Quality Portal identifies the location as 17 meters south and 87 meters east of the Louisiana Parkway outfall.
The portal shows monitoring at the location for microbiological, physical, inorganic and organic characteristics between 2011 and 2013.
Corpus Christi has previously looked at ways to prevent debris from reaching the bay. In 2022, the Coastal Bend Surfrider Foundation reported the city was preparing to study several stormwater debris-removal devices at eight bayfront outfalls between Cole Park and the South Texas Art Museum.
Those devices included hydrodynamic separators, a containment boom, a trash rack and baffle boxes. The goal was to determine which methods worked best in the local environment and where similar devices could potentially be used.
Friday's heavy rain offers a clear look at how closely Corpus Christi's streets and Corpus Christi Bay are connected: water that disappears into storm drains can eventually make its way to local waterways.
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