#lrca

Good Monday Morning to one and all – on a morning unique in the fact it looks to be the most uneventful Monday in quite a while! If you missed it, I ran a ChatGPT story on the benefits of mono and fluoro fly fishing leaders yesterday, and it went a long way toward showing us just how much information the chat-borg has gobbled up from the internet. My challenges to ChatGPT are beginning to be…

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Low water levels at Lake Travis, Austin’s largest reservoir (Photo courtesy).

Our drinking water here in Austin comes from the Lower Colorado River Authority, which draws its water from six different reservoirs located upstream.

And, well, they’re not as full as they used to be.

Explosive population growth and a series of nasty droughts have combined to put the squeeze on cities throughout Texas, pushing their water reserves to record lows. It’s causing more than just brown lawns and dry lakeside beaches — it could seriously threaten the area’s economic viability.

Texas has been drought prone throughout its history, but the current drought affecting Central Texas is one of the 10 worst to hit in the last 500 years, Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon recently told the Austin Chronicle.

With more than 150 residents moving to the Austin area every day, the city is looking for a way to keep the taps running while the city grows.

What’s the city doing about it?

For many of the larger cities throughout Texas, the solution is in finding newer sources of water. That typically comes either from desalinization (like El Paso) or buying from reservoirs in areas with water to spare.

San Antonio, once rated the most water insecure city in the country, invested in desalinated water and also recently approved a $3.4-billion pipeline to move water south from Vista Ridge.

As for Austin, the three largest reservoirs managed by the Lower Colorado River Authority are all at 35 percent of capacity or below, and this summer the city began looking at alternative sources to shore up its reserves.

In the meantime, it is focused on conservation, looking for ways to use its current water supply more efficiently. According to the Chronicle, those strategies include “applying a biodegradable powder to the lake surfaces to reduce evaporation, seasonally changing Lake Austin’s levels to capture runoff rather than allowing it to spill downstream, contracting with new groundwater suppliers to obtain additional water sources, and desalination of brackish water zones of the Edwards Aquifer.”

A culture change

Photo courtesy.

Austin’s water users will have to do their part as well. It will mean a culture change from how Texans have traditionally managed their water.

The LCRA has been extremely proactive in pushing conservation education, reminding residents to do things like installing drought resistant plants on lawns, turning off the faucet while brushing their teeth or using water-efficient fixtures. It might seem like small savings, but all of those little drops can translate into a waterfall of unwasted water.