BACKGROUND 



NUECES BAY 



DEMONSTRATION PROJECT 

 STUDY AREA 



Aransas 

 Bay 



Aransas 

 Pass 



CORPUS CHRISTI BA Y 



RBDFISH 

 BAY 



Approximate Scale 



Kilometers 



S 



OSOBAY 



Gult of Mexico 



lUarim ' %■■ 



Figure 1-1 : Location of the Nueces Delta along the Coastal 

 Bend of Texas. 



Since the beginning of the 20th century, the human 

 population along the Coastal Bend region of Texas has 

 substantially increased (Figure 1-2). As a result, the 

 demand for fresh water to meet the growing municipal 

 and industrial needs of the region also increased 

 significandy. In response, two large reservoirs were 

 constructed in the Nueces Basin for the purpose of 

 storing flood flows. The first was Wesley Seale Dam 

 (Lake Corpus Christi), constructed on the Nueces River 

 by the City of Corpus Christi in 1958, and the second 

 was Choke Canyon Dam (Choke Canyon Reser\'oLr), 

 constructed in 1982 on the Frio River by the 

 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) (Figure 1-3). 

 Choke Canyon Dam was designed to be operated in 

 conjunction with Lake Corpus Christi as part of one 

 reservoir system. 



During the period when these two reservoirs were 

 being planned, particularly in the case of Choke 

 Canyon Dam, the potential adverse impacts of 

 reservoir operations on the bay and estuary systems 

 were a concern. It was generally suspected that these 

 impoundments would reduce the amount of fresh 

 water entering the Nueces Estuary and upper Nueces 

 Delta, adversely affecting the natural productivity of 

 these systems. However, there was very Utde specific 

 information available regarding the needs of delta and 

 estuary systems, or of their responses to changes in 



freshwater inflows. In recognition of the bay and 

 estuary resources, the State of Texas required that, once 

 Choke Canyon Dam was completed and filled, a total 



1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 



Figure 1-2: Historical population trend for the areas 

 served by the Nueces River at Calallen. 



Sources: City of Corpus Christi 1981 and Texas Water Board 

 1992. 



1-2 V Introduction 



