Orange Grove declares water emergency as aquifer levels drop

Orange Grove city leaders declared a local state of disaster on April 15, 2026, as the city’s only drinking-water source kept dropping and water quality worsened. City Manager Todd Wright said Orange Grove could face a water emergency by summer, with households, businesses and basic public service all tied to the same shrinking aquifer.

The city’s supply comes from the Coastal lowlands aquifer system, Orange Grove’s only source of drinking water for about 90 years. On April 3, the city council voted to hire a hydrogeologist and an Austin-based environmental law firm specializing in water issues.

One resident said the change had forced his family into survival mode as they thought through hygiene, drinking water and how long bottled supplies could last. Another resident, James Byrn, said his private well water was building up total dissolved solids, and his well draws from about 280 feet underground, with mineral buildup collecting in his filtration system.

The city met with Corpus Christi water officials on April 1, and both sides agreed to keep studying the situation. Wright said the aquifer problem is shared, not confined to Orange Grove alone, and residents in March formally protested Corpus Christi’s groundwater pumping expansion near Bluntzer. Rancher Bruce Mumme said he had already spent thousands of dollars drilling a backup well.

Wright put Orange Grove’s water level at about 152 feet below the surface in September 2025 and about 165 feet below the surface on March 30, 2026. The Evangeline/Goliad Sands Aquifer had dropped to 157 feet below ground level and salt contamination had risen to 1,100 parts per million. Orange Grove officials also said they were tracking rising total dissolved solids, or TDS, levels.

The Texas Water Development Board monitors groundwater levels and quality as part of state water planning, and groundwater supplies about 55 percent of Texas water use.