If there's no water in the lake...

(I found this image here)

The Statesman ran a story on Friday about potential upcoming LCRA water restrictions due to drought.

The basics are these:

  • Even after recent rainfall, our current drought surpasses the severity required to kick us over into emergency water management.
  • That emergency plan could require 35% reduction of water use from all LCRA customers, including us (the mandatory outdoor water restrictions we faced in August aimed at cutting 25% of use).
  • Low volume in the river/lake comes from record low influx from tributaries as well as record low rainfall.

That last point is important–even if we get rain, as temperatures increase due to climate change we’re going to be getting less water in the river.  That’s because the Colorado river is fed by snowmelt–and when it’s hotter there’s less snow, and what snow there is tends to evaporate more rapidly.  (Check out more about climate change in the west & how it affects your water supply here.)

All of which is to say, re: WTP4:  to reiterate:  if there isn’t enough water for the plants we have now, why spend $400 million on an extra one?

And more to the point:  if there isn’t enough water for what we have now, how are we going to supply the predicted population influx at all if we’re not making serious investments in conservation?

 

ChristaFrench's picture
Submitted by ChristaFrench on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 12:15pm
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WATER in Central Texas

Submitted by Betty Saenz on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:14pm.

I totally agree with you. The population of the Central Texas area is exploding. The northwest Austin City of Leander has implemented a great water conservation ordinance. New homes built in Leander can no longer put in water hogging St. Augustine or "carpet" grass. To me, this could be augmented with incentives for no lawn at all such as a nice xeriscape design with some native plantings and decomposed granite walkways. Many people, including high profile Austinites do not realize how much water they are wasting with a super green, huge lush lawn. Lawn chemicals add further to the environmental disaster. How about incentives for extensive, more than 1 little barrel, rainwater collection systems in all Central Texas towns. The little green rain barrels are a start, & I applaud them, but they are more a size for apartment or condo dwellers. I have sold eco-friendly, green homes with total rainwater collection.One home had an 18,0000 gallon system, the other was 30-35,000 gallons. Both homes used rainwater or "cloud juice" exclusively for bathing, cooking, drinking, plantings, etc. We need more of this and incentives for doing so. Is it not the truth that municipalities make money from selling water?

Texas Colorado river is spring fed

Submitted by resglowing on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 11:03am.

The Texas Colorado river is spring fed. It comes out of the Ogallala Aquifer in eastern Dawson County, near Lamesa. The creeks that feed it at the source have never gone dry but only flow for a few miles. The tributaries that feed it along its way to the Gulf are also spring fed.

You probably have never skied near Lubbock have you? ;-)

Of course this does not change the fact that the lack of rainfall has decreased the level of both the Ogallala and Edward Aquifers.