Lake Travis Dropping Consistently
With the hot weather the lack of rain and normal water usage, Lake Travis is dropping rapidly. I just went to the LCRA website and saw that over the last week or so, Lake Travis is dropping by an average of around 3.5 inches per day. This isn't anything unusual. Click here to see an LCRA graph for 2006. What you will see is the level of Lake Travis dropping from over 665 feet above sea level in May to under 645 feet in early October. If we continue with hot and dry conditions, it is likely that Lake Travis will drop around 20 feet by the end of summer.
We've seen this before and we will see it again. The drought that ended in 2007 was pretty bad. Many local marinas and lakeside restaurants were really hurt economically. Many boaters stayed off the lake as the water was too low to launch a boat. Then in March and April and then again in June we picked up lots of rain. Click here for an LCRA graph showing Lake Travis levels in 2007.
Now let's look to the future. Lake Travis was designed for flood control, not recreation. The LCRA, which manages the lake, has water contracts down stream, meaning that they have to release water even in times of drought. The LCRA is a private business, not a government entity. If a municipality goes to the LCRA with a proposal to buy water and the numbers are right, LCRA will do it. Right now the cities of Cedar Park, Leander and Round Rock want to place two intake pipes in the lake for water for those cities. In addition, Austin, which currently gets most of its water from Lake Austin, wants to take water from Lake Travis. San Antonio has also asked for water.
If the LCRA does agree to supply water to all of these areas, they will practically drain Lake Travis during times of drought. 645 feet above sea level might look high some years in the future. That is really not a good thing. Travis County, Austin and surrounding cities need to get busy and encourage water conservation. They need to encourage the use of gray water and also harvesting rainfall among other things. The last thing that waterfront buyers of today want will be a dock on the ground and a staggering amount of bare shore line, islands and peninsulas.
If you are interested in learning more about what might happen if the LCRA sells lots more water, visit http://www.draininglaketravis.org/. Now this site is pretty dramatic and scary looking, but there is some good info there.
Jumping back in here in September, 2008 - Lake Travis continues to drop. Hurricane Ike was forecast last week to dump up to a foot of rain in Central Texas, but that didn't happen. So the drought continues and Lake Travis continues to drop. If the lake gets as low or lower than it was two summers ago, there will be one benefit. Owners of Lake Travis waterfront homes can extend sidewalks, stairs and boat ramps.