CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Each week, KRIS 6 answers your questions about the Coastal Bend water crisis. This week's question asks "why don't we use excess flood water from San Antonio"?
We know that every drop counts, so to understand why floodwaters aren't used, it helps to look at how that water moves through San Antonio.
San Antonio gets most of its drinking water from underground aquifers, primarily the Edwards Aquifer. The famous San Antonio River Walk is actually connected to the San Antonio River. But, unlike the Nueces River, the San Antonio River isn't a good choice for municipal water.
The river starts near the University of the Incarnate Word in midtown and flows about 240 miles toward the Gulf Coast. The San Antonio River meets the Guadalupe River in Refugio County, which empties into San Antonio Bay.
The San Antonio River is a relatively small waterway and its levels can fluctuate drastically. This makes it better suited for things like flood control, irrigation, and recreation.
San Antonio lies within a flood-prone part of Texas known as "Flash Flood Alley". The secret to the city's resilience hides underneath downtown. During intense rainfall, the San Antonio River swells with dirty, debris-filled floodwaters. A specially built tunnel diverts the raging river 150 feet underground, safely bypassing downtown and the River Walk entirely before emptying downstream.
Capturing a flash flood sounds like a great idea, but in reality, it's just too fast, too dirty, and too expensive.
To actually trap and treat that floodwater, a pipeline like the Mary Rhodes Pipeline would need to be built. The water would undergo costly treatment, not to mention years of legal battles over water rights.
Taking that water from a river that already struggles with inconsistent streamflows isn't just a gamble — it could hurt the many animal species that rely on it, including sea turtles.
Have a question about our water crisis? Send us an email at stefanie.lauber@kristv.com or newsroom@kristv.com.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
