TAMU-CC Researchers Find Out: Did COVID-19 Lockdowns Really Improve Local Water Quality?

After a quarantine closed several popular South Texas beaches during the height of the tourism season, a group of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) and Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) water quality researchers decided to investigate the impact to local waters. Did fewer people actually mean a cleaner environment? Sort of — but not enough, at least when it comes to the Coastal Bend’s water quality. That’s according to the results of a study led by Dr. Michael Wetz, HRI Chair for Coastal Ecosystem Processes, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi doctoral student Nicole Powers, TAMU-CC Associate Professor of Marine Biology Dr. Jeff Turner, and TAMU-CC Associate Professor of Geographic Information Systems Dr. Yuxia Huang.