CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With a looming water crisis, we keep hearing a lot of the same questions from neighbors time and time again.
- What happens when we run out of water?
- What happens when we run out of groundwater?
- What happens if desalination doesn't come to fruition?
Well, whether the water comes from the water off our coast or from the ground beneath our feet, we're going to need a solution— but we have an example. Did you know there is another Texas city just up the interstate that was in a similar crisis about three decades ago?
San Antonio almost 'ran out' of water
In the late 1990s, San Antonio was facing a similar water crisis. The problem wasn't a drought, but rather a legal battle. The area relied almost entirely on the Edwards Aquifer for water, and a federal judge was threatening to restrict that access because overdrawing the aquifer was threatening endangered species.
So how did they avoid running out of water? The answer was to diversify their water portfolio. Today, San Antonio Water System is one of the most diverse in the state of Texas. So while our local leaders try to find a solution, what role does Mother Nature play in all of this?
Will we get the rain we need soon?
John Metz is the Meteorologist In Charge at our local National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office. He's seen a lot in his more than 30 years of forecasting right here in the Coastal Bend. I asked him how this drought compares to previous events in the Coastal Bend and if there's any hope our dry spell might end soon.
"For us to have a drought in South Texas, that's pretty much our common meteorological pattern," Metz said. "I've learned that we are always going to be in a dry environment, and so you just need those very— on occasion you're going to get either a tropical storm or a hurricane to move in. You're going to have the perfect weather pattern set up to bring you, some type of big rain event, and it will happen again."
Mother Nature's gift of rain is not only important for our surface water reservoirs, it's also important to help recharge the Gulf Coast aquifer for our groundwater supply.
"One thing I know is that we will fill up those reservoirs again," Metz said. "We just— hopefully it'll be before it's too late— We just don't know when it's going to happen specifically."
So the answer to the question, "what happens when we run out of water?" It doesn't have a pleasant answer, but at least there's hope on the horizon that Mother Nature could turn in our favor and that there could be a solution for the long term ahead. To learn more about how the climate may impact our rainfall trend, check out this week's Science Snippet.
Have a question about our water crisis that you'd like our team to answer? Send us an e-mail at newsroom@kristv.com
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