Water for our bays or our lawns? It does not have to come to that choice if we work together.
Making decisions about water without fully understanding the consequences or, worse, ignoring them seems a well-worn path for the Coastal Bend. The push to suspend mandatory pass-throughs of water that protect the health of the Nueces Estuary and Corpus Christi Bay seems headed down that same path. However, there is a way forward that allows for informed action that could address most, if not all, concerns.
It might surprise you that our best experts on the mandatory pass-throughs think they are not working as conceived. Too many factors like climate, economic development and wastewater management have changed since the 2001 agreed order. These experts agree we
need a reassessment. Those who wish to suspend or end mandatory pass-throughs have seen the impact of drought come full on. Now that the reservoirs are recovering, they understandably wish to keep as much water as possible under control and help forestall a repeat of what a lack of water planning has brought us. Suspending or ending the mandatory pass-throughs will not accomplish their goals without creating new problems, even more difficult to solve. It is unfortunately a familiar story.
I have spent 55 years making sure Texas left enough water in our rivers and freshwater inflows into our bays to keep them healthy and productive while also meeting the demands of agriculture, industry and the rest of us. I have written and lectured about how to accomplish that goal. I often begin those talks stating that Texas had plenty of water for Texans (gasps from environmentalists, applause from others), immediately followed by, "What we do not have is enough water for our lawns" — followed mostly by silence. And here in Corpus Christi we are at that point and the health of our bays are at stake.
Estuaries like the Nueces regularly cycle through drought and flood. They are adapted to that, but the effect of growing agricultural, industrial and municipal withdrawals can now extend drought beyond the system’s ability to recover. The consequences are economic loss and diminished human health. From the Aral Sea to the Texas coast, I have seen it time after time. One of the few tools we have to mitigate these events and help these vital ecosystems recover are pass-throughs, a relatively small price to pay when we all are trying to deal with drought and recover from it as quickly as possible.
What are mandatory pass-throughs? They are some portion of a river’s instream flows that pass through a reservoir into an estuary. They provide freshwater that maintains the ecological health of the upper reaches of estuaries during droughts. They help maintain ecological integrity of nursery habitats in those relatively small but critical areas of the estuary.
The purpose of protecting these nurseries during droughts is to allow estuaries to recover more quickly when hydrology returns to average or higher flow periods. Basically, these focused flows first create a refuge for key estuarine species during extended drought and then act as a hatchery accelerating recovery when drought conditions abate, exploding with life from phytoplankton to shrimp to redfish, restocking the bay far more quickly than otherwise possible and making sure the bay can continue to assimilate what we humans throw at it or rather into it.
Salinity at the upper end of the bay is typically near 10 parts per thousand (ppt) and the bay itself, historically averages 22 ppt to 26 ppt. When mandatory pass-throughs were suspended for the Nueces Estuary in the spring of 2024, as required by the Agreed Order, our estuary began to show the effects. Salinity jumped to 40 ppt, even 50 ppt. At those high salinities the estuary simply begins to shut down. Without freshwater inflows, the bay becomes nothing more than a giant sewage treatment pond or worse. Anyone who looks out their window and says, “The bay looks fine to me without mandatory pass-throughs. It is a waste of water,” says so in ignorance or with agenda.
Ignorance can be forgiven and corrected. The story is complex, but we know so much more now than what we knew in 2001, when the most recent version of the agreed order went into effect. Thanks to the Harte Research Institute and Coastal Bend Bays & Estuary Program, we have expansive data and studies focused on the headwaters of the very estuary that is now subject to having flows cut off. Over 40 years of data is available, synthesized in a new book by Paul Montagna titled "Freshwater Inflows to Texas Bays and Estuaries." It is a good start to finding a better way forward.
I recommend that before charging off to the TCEQ or the Texas Legislature to demand we cut off all pass-throughs to our bay, even “temporarily,” we actually engage with some of the best estuarine scientists living and working right here in the Coastal Bend. Senate Bill 1397 lays out a path to do so and assures all stakeholders have input. This situation is exactly why it was passed into law.
After all, doesn’t our bay deserve at least as much consideration as our lawns?
Larry McKinney is a retired senior director of aquatic resources for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and a retired senior director of the Harte Research Institute.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Water for our bays or our lawns? We can choose both | Opinion
