Mary Rhodes Pipeline expansion part of ongoing efforts to boost Corpus Christi water supply
According to Caller Times, the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, is making progress on several water projects in an effort to boost the city’s water supply amid an ongoing drought.
Key ongoing projects include expansion of the Mary Rhodes Pipeline — recently awarded Asset Management Project of the Year by Underground Infrastructure Magazine — along with two planned seawater desalination plants and plans to drill new water wells along the Nueces River, Caller Times reported.
The initiatives are needed to supplement the region’s declining water supply, city officials have said.
As of Thursday, the combined capacities of Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir measured about 17.4%, according to city data.
The combined lake capacity is how the severity of drought is assessed locally.
The city has been under restrictions for Stage 3 drought — called when the combined lake capacity slips below 20% — since December. Here’s the status of some of the city’s ongoing water projects.
Mary Rhodes Pipeline
The pipeline that delivers a portion of the city’s water supply, drawn from Lake Texana, was expanded in June, with efforts following to expand it further.
Water volume transported to the city’s reserves by 101-mile pipeline is currently 55 million to 58 million gallons per day, Nicholas Winkelmann, Corpus Christi Water director of water systems and support services, told the City Council in early March.
By the end of the month, expansion of the pipeline is anticipated to increase by as much as about 24 million gallons — totaling between 72 million and 79 million gallons per day, according to city officials.
Other projects in the region include several desalination plants and drilling of new groundwater wells
While the city has garnered the two state permits needed for desalination operations, a required U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit has not been secured.
It is currently “in the final stages of permit review,” Molly wrote in a message to the Caller-Times.
A timeline included in a news release Thursday shows plant design continuing through this year, with construction launching in the first quarter of 2026 and the plant going online in summer 2028.
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