24 ft radial gates with hoists and controls are provided to regulate flow through the spillway structure. Choke Canyon Dam and Reservoir is operated by the City of Corpus Christi. The 15,427 square mile drainage supplies runoff into Choke Canyon Reservoir. Choke Canyon Reservoir provides storage water to supplement the municipal and industrial needs of the city of Corpus Christi and provides fresh water to the Corpus Christi Bays and surrounding estuaries for maintaining the proper ecological environment for living marine resources therein. The reservoir is operated to maintain as much storage as possible in the conservation pool at all times, thus providing maximum carryover storage.
Equal flow is maintained through each spillway gate to the maximum extent possible.
Choke Canyon Reservoir has no allocations for flood control storage. Geology Choke Canyon Dam is founded entirely on Catahoula Formation except for the deeper excavations which encountered the uppermost portion of the underlying Frio Formation. The Frio Formation was encountered in the excavations for the spillway stilling basin and in the area extending from Charley York Creek to the outlet work's stilling basin.