shueman
Libra
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Alta Loma CA
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Posted: Feb. 11 2007,5:54 am |
Post # 1 |
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Central Texas may face water restrictions if region stays dry.
Not enough water pouring into Highland Lakes, and farmers in jeopardy.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
More than 1 million people who rely on the Colorado River for their water might soon face mandatory water restrictions, according to the authority that manages the river.
Last year, less water flowed into Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis — the enormous reservoirs for drinking, industrial and farming water for Austin and points downriver — than at any time since they began operating together as a water supply source in 1942. If the lakes get as little water in 2007, water may be rationed, said Joe Beal, head of the Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages the river. "We're going to have to pull together and conserve this water," Beal said at a news conference Friday. "We're going to have stretch it to make it last. But if the drought persists, we may have mandatory restrictions."
Restrictions could mean limits on watering yards, washing cars and filling pools, according to the LCRA. Outdoor water could be limited to a hand-held hose, and the filling of ornamental ponds and pools could be barred and fines imposed.
If current use and drought conditions continue, mandatory water restrictions could start in late summer, said Nora Mullarkey, a water conservation supervisor with the LCRA.
She said the City of Austin would also be subject to the restrictions. The city is working on new water conservation rules, including a requirement that homeowners with automatic sprinklers water no more than twice a week, said Tony Gregg, a water conservation manager at Austin water utility.
Rice farmers, smaller cities such as Bastrop and La Grange, industries such as chemical plants and power plants, shrimp and oyster fishermen, hunters, birders and recreational boaters all depend, one way or another, on the amount of water stored in, and released from, Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis.
If Austin has another dry year, "water for agricultural use may be cut off completely," Beal said. Water levels are so low that last month the river authority told rice farmers they would be getting less water from the lakes.
The curtailment is unlikely to have any consequences this year, said Haskell Simon, a Bay City rice farmer. But he said if drought conditions continue, the $60 million Texas rice industry could suffer, as well as the migratory birds that thrive on the rice farms.
The drop in lake levels has been drastic. In June 2005, the lakes were full. On Friday, they were only 54 percent full, and Lake Travis was more than 23 feet below average. Despite a wet January, the tributaries that feed the Highland Lakes did not receive enough water to replenish them, Beal said.
The lower lake levels have had a ripple effect. More boaters have gone to Lake LBJ, increasing accidents there, said Bill Lane, police chief of Horseshoe Bay. "It's not as safe a lake," he said.
Boating businesses along Lake Travis suffered, but were not ruined by the drought, said Doug Powell, general manager of Emerald Point Marina on Lake Travis. "Lakes are low, but they're not empty.' "
Smaller water districts say they moved their intake pipes to draw water from a smaller river.
On Friday, a couple of sandbars scruffy with vegetation were visible in the middle of Lake Travis. Those sandbars would be underwater if the lake were at its average level; if the lake falls another 7 feet, a land bridge to the islands will emerge, say LCRA officials.
"Those are the Sometimes Islands," said Robert Cullick, a spokesman for the LCRA. "Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. Right now, it's fixing to be Sometimes Peninsula."
....and we've been shopping for property there.... 
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