Very interesting site. Thanks for the link. Can't believe some lakes are at 0% and some are > 100% capacity. Crazy!

I live near Cedar Creek Reservoir and it remains very low. We need rain.
When people have been fussing over the moisture we have been receiving I just keep singing we need it. They are not understanding that simply because their ditch is overflowing that it is not a signal the reservoirs are doing the same thing.
Last week I heard on a DFW station of the stages of water restrictions some cities are still or will be enacting.

Up here in the Panhandle, our main drinking water lake has been reported at an effective level of "zero" for several months.

2011 blew the previous low rainfall record (set during the Dust Bowl) out of the water. (Sorry for the pun).

Thank goodness for the underground aquifer up here. But, still, we need rain, rain and more rain.

Lake Travis is at 34% and all that rain we got did not budge it upwards at all. I am still living in my culture of preemptive poverty when it comes to water. Our cisterns are 100% full but I only planted 1/8th of my winter garden because if it dries up (which it looks like it is doing ^*#*!!!) I am going to have to water it. and Last year I ran out of water and had to have Lake Travis water trucked in for two months, and I have no Idea if there will be a lake to get water from next August at this rate. I am not planning a summer Vegetable garden at this point. I think that the Austin should not back off from their stage 2 or 3 water restrictions even though it is winter.

Have you ever thought of drilling a water well, Amara?? I don't know how large your lot or acreage is, but a well might just be your answer.

Can't believe some lakes are at 0% and some are 100% capacity. Crazy

I think the only ones at 100% are probably not sources of drinking water. Some have contractual obligations to keep water at a certain level for cooling power plants and stuff like that.

Teri

The lake in my area is at 22.5%. It's very sad. December's drizzles didn't seem to help it much. Was good for a while at my place, now it's dry again.

I don't know what Mara's well situation is but my brother's family lives very close to her down there. They have a well but have been buying water since summer because the well can't keep up. They don't water at all outside, just need water for 3 humans and some livestock.

Luckily they have a 3000 gallon tank. The well hasn't gone dry but the aquifers are very low. I think she was buying 3000 gallons every week there for a while but now it's slowed down and I think it's only every couple of weeks.

What happens when Lake Travis runs out of water I don't know.

Teri

I had a well that is 125 ' deep and it only made 75 gallons a day when it was operating.The pump broke and we decided not to fix it for the $2000 that they wanted since the small aquifer that it is in does not produce much.. I don't think that digging a well is the solution. Maybe another tank for the rainwater system. I am full and I could be collecting the rain that falls tomorrow but I have nowhere to put it right now. I have a large roof ,and a 70' x 12' section over our shops porch is not even fed into the system. It has never been a problem till this year. We have gone through three droughts but the long rainless period this time of 5" in a 9 month period had us run dry. When it did start raining we have had no problem and right now we are ahead of where we were last year at this time. I think That with minor changes in gardening usage earlier on will find me with water through the summer. The rice farmers in South Texas are giving up one crop, maybe I should too.

The wells in the area that I live in are drying up and many of them are 900' deep and taste crappy. Some Neighbors have re drilled their wells three and four times. They are thinking of regulating the well drilling because of the damage being done to our aquifers. All people in this area live in a state of constant water rationing. No one waters a lawn around here except the newly arrived in that brand new subdivision down the road. Neighbors have some harsh words for them. They are some of the few that are on the water pipeline from Lake Travis water. Not watering is Just the way of life out here. I like it that way. Sometimes I regret the lush plants that I can't grow that I used to have, but really I like that my yard looks like the hill country. The hill country is beautiful.

I was buying about 2200 gallons every month (almost) for household of 3. I only had to buy two truckloads. If I were to do things differently, I might have bought one truck load to give all my trees a deep watering in the middle of summer. I know you guys must be tired of hearing me moan or talk of the issue but to me this is a natural way of looking at my environment. I don't feel that I am moaning, just stating fact. I look outside and things are beautiful and match the brown of the country side. LOL.

When Lake Travis runs out there are a whole bunch of people in deep do do. I choose to not live in denial of this situation. This is one of the huge differences that I have found when I moved outside of the Utility districts of municipalities. The people out here do not have as much of a disconnect with nature that arise when one has an unlimited supply of water poring out of their taps. Governance does create a protective shell.

Wantonamara - fantastic post, agree agree agree.

it is odd how some are full and others empty... from north to south on the Colorado River:

Lake Buchanan 37%
Lake LBJ 98%
Lake Travis 34%
Lake Austin 95%

and they are saying the farmers south of Lake Austin may not get enough water released for their crops this year.

I would like to see the LCRA rules for the lake levels. We bought a lake house on Travis last summer (2010) when every thing was hunky dorey but haven't been out much this past summer because there was no lake. LBJ and Austin are constant level lakes, apparently based on scotty66's post, but Travis and Buchanan, where Austin gets its water from, are not. There's plenty of water (not that we shouldn't conserve) in the other lakes but it's not available to use.

I gave up on my garden this past summer but just bought four more rainwater collection tanks. My one 305 gal is currently full and I hope to be able to make it through 2012 with little to no potable water for my garden.

My parents in law lives in a neighborhood by Lake LBJ and I was always surprised that it never gets low during dry spell plus houses along the lake ALWAYS have lush green yards!

Lake LBJ, Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake are what you call constant level lakes. First , they are really skinny and not to deep to begin with. They are shallow barely dammed rivers. They are not considered "reservoirs", they are just away of controlling floods more than controlling water supply.

Here is an interesting graphic that shows that towns dependent on theLake Travis and Buchannon reservoirs are really in for it this summer. Look at the first graphic and you will see that even if we Have a wet spring (highly doubtful) we will barely make it up to the level we were at when I ran out of water last year. If it continues into a dry summer (much more likely) we will keep sinking into a very dangerous state.This is why I do not flush every time and keep my vegetable garden small, take very short showers, divert my water into a grey water system.

If you want to read further here is the site I got this graphic from. The article is interesting and goes into how the inflows are at 10% of normal for this time of year.

http://www.lcra.org/water/drought/index.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Lake Travis water level forecast.

I always like this one. I have a stake that shows 691' but the water hasn't been there in quite some time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lake Travis Water Levels

I know the problem with the water level is a combination of the lack of rain, the continuing of building of new homes, and also the zebra mussels that have invaded major water sources like Lake Texoma. They can't pump water from Lake Texoma to other lakes in North Central Texas because they risk infesting those lakes with the zebra mussels which can do a lot of harm to the aquatic life in those lakes. Here is the report that came out last September:

By Randy McIlwain
NBCDFW.com
updated 9/22/2011 8:45:19 PM ET

More than 1 million North Texas water customers will be under Stage 3 water restrictions beginning Nov. 1.

The North Texas Municipal Water District's board of trustees unanimously voted to implement a Stage 3 drought plan for its 1.6 million customers.

"This is an ongoing drought, and it is very severe," NTMWD spokeswoman Denise Hickey said.

Under Stage 3 restrictions, customers can only water their lawns once every two weeks. But they can still use drip irrigation and soaker hoses for home foundations and trees. People can only wash cars with a hose with a shutoff nozzle. Pool owners can only replenish water that has evaporated and cannot drain and refill their pools. Fountains must be turned off unless they use recycled water.

"We've hit triple-digit breaking weather," Hickey said. "We've had peak record demands this summer. The drought outlook continues to persist through the fall and into next spring."

A zebra mussel infestation since July 2009 at Lake Texoma has made the situation worse. The lake represents 28 percent of NTMWD's water supply, but pumping water from it runs the risk of contaminating other water sources.

NTMWD's member cities can also create their own Stage 3 plans if they are more restrictive.

There will be a month-long education period for cities to submit their plans with an overall goal of reducing water consumption by at least 10 percent.

Stage 3 restrictions will begin Nov. 1 and end on March 31. But they could be in place for even longer depending on whether spring rains are significant. Without rain, there is no way to replenish water reservoirs.

"We've gone through a long, hot summer without any inflow, and that's anticipated to continue," Hickey said.

The NTMWD serves Allen, Farmersville, Forney, Frisco, Garland, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano, Princeton, Richardson, Rockwall, Royse City and Wylie, as well as a number of North Texas towns.

The district lists the following towns as customers: Bonham, Caddo Basin SUD, Cash SUD, College Mound WSC, Copeville SUD, Crandall (Kaufman Four-One), East Fork SUD, Fairview, Fate, Forney Lake WSC, Gastonia-Scurry SUD, Greater Texoma Utility Authority (GTUA), Josephine, Kaufman, Kaufman Four-One, Lavon W.S.C., Little Elm, Lucas, Melissa, Milligan WSC, Mount Zion WSC, Murphy, Nevada WSC, North Collin WSC, Parker, Prosper, Rose, Hill SUD, Rowlett, Sachse, Seis Lagos UD, Sunnyvale, Terrell and Wylie Northeast SUD.

The last I heard, we will be going into stage 4 water restrictions starting April 1 of this year. Say good-bye to your lawns. Hopefully they will just go dormant. It does allow you to drip irrigate your trees and use soaker hoses around your foundations, but everything else is on its own.

Intersting read at lcra.org

of note:

" ...Even if our basin remains in extreme drought conditions, there is enough water in lakes Buchanan and Travis to meet customer needs for many years.

....Lake Buchanan is now about 988 feet above mean sea level (msl), which is 38 percent full. Additional measures, such as a barge and pump in the riverbed, would not be needed to move water from Lake Buchanan for downstream customers until the lake falls below the intake pipe at 958 feet msl, which is about 18 months away if conditions don't improve..."

Here is a link that might be useful: LCRA - Setting the record straight about water releases

I would not believe much that comes out of LCRA's mouthpiece. They are appointed semi governmental for profit agency solely appointed by the governor and this Organization has not always been as truthful about their water usage policies and goals. It has been in the hands of developers for awhile. Past overselling of water rights to development has put us at dangers door. Joe Beal management of the water systems had a huge hand in that. I fought several pipelines that came through my neck of the woods several years back. They got their pipelines . San Antonio wants in on Lake Travis also, but that has been put to rest for the time being.

I think that San Antonio has more controls on development than Austin area has figured how to do. There are no controls in Travis county outside the ETJ of Austin. It is the wild west. He with the biggest straw wins. We are trying to create a ground water district in western Travis county area and it is a really difficult fight.

I look in the eyes of that woman in the picture and something in me says watch out. Just a gut feeling.

I still can't figure out where Carrollton gets their water, although they say Dallas, but we were at Level 1 all last summer as far as I know; am still trying to figure this out!

Carrollton buys their water from Dallas and Dallas has made quite a few lakes so they have alot of water. North Texas Municipal Water District is in the process of building a pipeline to bring water from Texoma directly to the water treatment facility so as not to contaminate Lake Lavon but it's going to take awhile.

Personally I enjoy having running water in my house so considering the water levels in the surrounding lakes, I don't plan on worrying about my lawn. More than 50% of the water usage is for outside watering. That's alot of water.

Thanks, shebear, this makes me feel much better about our water situation here, but am still growing xeriscape plants, just in case...

I grew up up where the Red River and OK dissect.

They have some salt water control projects there. That would make the Red much more potable. But, one lake between Quanah and Crowell to hold back much of the salt that gets into the Red, never got built. A money issue.

We may need to re-visit our willingness to spend on water in this state.

This glorious rain has helped Cedar Creek Lake - cannot wait to see how much the water has risen this evening. I actually seen water yesterday evening where there had been nothing but dried bottoms for over a year. With the brushy growth occuring on the dried bottom, the crappy should be having a nice spawn area this year.

When this thread was first posted, less than a month ago I began watching "my" lake, Lake Ray Hubbard. At that time it was at 77% capacity. Today it is at 88%! We are moving in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go! A few more rains like this last one and we should be out of the woods... temporarily.

Eagle Mountain Lake was at 74% when I first checked this map...now at 88% full also! I got a bit freaked on my commute Thursday morning. There was a lot of water along the freeway and a small pond/lake near Meacham Field that had nearly dried up was higher than I can remember ever seeing it. I hope Central and West Texans are getting some of this moisture!

My family, many of whom still lives in the rural area where I grew up (fifty miles east of Austin) got some MUCH needed rain. Enough to fill up a lot of the ponds, and at least make a BIG dent in the extreme drought of their area. Our weatherman said last night that we here in much of North Texas are no longer considered in a drought, just drier than normal. I know it will be some time before I can work in my yard again as my property is very low and it takes awhile for the "moisture" to soak in.

Lake Lavon is now at around 64% full. Still a long ways to go, but much better than the 53% full from a month ago. We need more rain like we got this past week to help fill it back up. The last news I heard about water restrictions in North Texas is that they are delaying the decision to go to stage 4 until July 1, previously it was April 1. So, we can still water twice a month on our designated watering days. We can water our vegetable gardens and anything else that needs it (container plants) by hand because we're controlling the water so there is not any runoff. We still need to conserve water wherever we can - only do full loads of dishes, laundry; take shorter showers, etc. Most importantly since it is still winter and we are not experiencing a lot of evaporation like it is when it is hot, we don't need to water if we receive 1/2-1 inch of rainfall every two weeks. So far since we have gone into stage 3 on November 1, 2011, I have not run my sprinklers at all because we have received enough rainfall for my landscape. It is turned off.

Lake travis is up 2% after 2 - 5 " of rain and it is at a whopping 36% full But my water tanks are 100%. That is "in the right direction", she says optimistically.

A well in Spicewood beach that LCRA was using to sell to bulk water deliveries went dry this week and now the bulk water deliveries are trucking water into Spicewood Beach. This is scary for me because I was using this firm to truck water to my tank when I ran out of water in July. The were my back up plan. I am not in need now. but it makes me just a tad aprehensive