At least the lake is pretty and green. Not a dried up mud hole.
Posted on 01/14/2015 8:44:27 AM PST by bgill
The LCRA added inflows into the lakes have been well below average every year since 2008, when the current drought began. The combined storage of lakes Travis and Buchanan stood at 689,396 acre-feet on Jan. 1 and are currently just 34 percent full. An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons.
If the capacity falls to 30 percent, water customers would be required to reduce their water usage by 20 percent. Officials say there is a small chance this could happen as soon as March.
In November, as a way to conserve water, the LCRA asked the state for permission to suspend water releases from the Highland Lakes for downstream irrigation for the fourth straight year.
(Excerpt) Read more at kxan.com ...
You are so right. And California could profit from the same lesson, too.
I’m sure some people would be willing to sell Texas water in exchange for cheap oil. Just the cost of doing business don’t you know.
I wish my lake had as much water as Travis and Buchanan.
I have property on Lake Medina. Which is only 3 percent full.
Too bad we don’t have pipelines to move water from flooded areas, which happen nearly yearly, to these reservoirs.
Don’t worry too much, spring rains in TX can be torrential and fill up everything in just a few days! It will happen.
I remember back in 2009 Lake Travis was at 60% and a big tropical storm settled over us for 3 days and dumped 10-12 inches. The lake came back up to pool within a week and has been going down every since.
Hey it could be worse. You could have lake front property at the Optima Wildlife preserve in the Oklahoma panhandle.;-D
>> The LCRA is now making mandantory registration and fees on private water wells and usage due to the drought
Not true.
The LCRA (Lower Colorado RIVER Authority) has no authority to regulate groundwater. In the state of Texas, groundwater regulation is the domain of county groundwater conservation districts.
You don’t remember some three years ago when we didn’t have a drop of rain for 3 months? The hills here are still nothing but dead brush where it’d take a tossed cigarette to cause a wildfire.
At least the lake is pretty and green. Not a dried up mud hole.
BS! I had to register my private water well a few years ago that has been on my land unregistered for over 50 years. Everyone has had to either pull their lake pumps or pay fines. You can’t have a septic system without their approval. Any septic repairs have to be done on the sly or they’ll be banging on your door. They made us buy extra land to move ours so don’t tell me they have no authority. It’s the Lower Colorado River AUTHORITY. The LCRA thinks it’s God. They can and do regulate every drop of water on and off the lakes.
The science being settled, the drop in Texas lake levels can only be the direct result of global warming. That's why it's such a great theory: it explains everything.
I’m not denying you had to register your well.
I am just skeptical that you registered it with LCRA, as opposed to your county’s groundwater district. What county are you in? If your well is an “alluvial well” — a (typically shallow) well drilled very near a river and essentially recharged from the river — then maybe LCRA does have some authority.
LCRA certainly does control over surface water with an iron fist. But not groundwater.
By the way, as a landowner, you can take some comfort in the fact that the Texas Supreme Court recently and strongly reaffirmed that a landowner has a constitutional RIGHT to groundwater beneath their property.
This actually had the effect of causing some groundwater districts to EASE UP on their regulation a bit, to avoid lawsuits by property owners that the district would most likely lose.
Water is a scarce resource in high demand in Texas. I would expect more and more contention for it in the future — particularly between thirsty cities and the rural areas that the cities see as “sitting on all that water we could have”.
The biggest cost to desalination is energy. I’ve long thought that Texas could build a gigantic desalination plant and pumping operation that could run entirely on natural gas, of which the Gulf has an overabundance.
After desalinizing the water, pump it inland into man made aquifers
Texas is part of a desert, never was intended to have consistent season to season weather. 7 year drought in the 50’s wiped out many dry land farmers. Those who hung on made enough in 1 year to pay off 7 years of debt(my grandfather). 1993 flooded like crazy, all lakes overflowing. Many examples before and after those dates. It’s called weather. Hang around long enough, you’ll get one you like, and don’t like.....
Hahahahahahahaha! You're so funny. Too many Hollyweird movies. Make that part of Texas is a desert.
Oh my, a photo of part of a lake. My statement has been proven wrong!
What are you, in grade school? Look at a map, or better yet drive across Texas to El Paso. Yes it is a desert.
“Oh my, a photo of part of a lake. My statement has been proven wrong!
What are you, in grade school? Look at a map, or better yet drive across Texas to El Paso. Yes it is a desert.”
No kidding, I’ve lived here in Texas all my life and you haven’t been anywhere until you’ve been to the Great East Texas Sand Dunes!
>> Yes it is a desert.
Not just a desert... a godforsaken burning hot dry lifeless desert that can kill even a well-prepared man or woman in less than four hours of exposure.
And if you live through the desert experience and make it to a Texas city, you’ll find only sand and lizards to eat, and precious little water to wash it down with. You’ll gladly line up at one of the third world airports, Greyhound terminals, or Amtrak stations and wait for days for a chance to go back home.
I want everyone in the world to know that, especially y’all in California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and Mexico. Save your money... don’t waste your time coming here... you’ll regret it, as I have.
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