BURNET — The city could switch to a different source of water — such as an aquifer — by spring if the drought continues to drain the Highland Lakes, officials said Oct. 25.
The surface-water supply from lakes Buchanan and Travis faces a crucial shortage as one of the worst dry periods in state history continues. If necessary, Burnet has the option to draw groundwater from the Ellenburger Aquifer to offset the loss, said City Manager David Vaughn.
“We could meet nearly 100 percent of our demand with it,” Vaughn said.
Burnet buys its water from the Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages lakes Travis and Buchanan. The two reservoirs supply the needs of most Highland Lakes cities.
If the combined storage of the lakes continues to fall, LCRA could impose a 20 percent water-supply reduction by spring.
“We are planning on it,” Vaughn said. “We expect it to happen, unless we have a significant rain event.”
By Oct. 25, the lakes were 39 percent full at about 763,000 acre-feet.
If the drought persists, the lakes could drop to less than 30 percent full or less than 600,000 acre-feet, a level worse than the drought of record from the 1950s.
Vaughn and other officials plan to discuss the combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis with LCRA Oct. 27 in Austin at LCRA headquarters.
“It is a very complex issue,” Vaughn said.
According to the LCRA water management plan, the authority may curtail water supplies to Burnet and several other customers if the lakes plummet to a new low.
However, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must approve the decision.
Vaughn is a member of the LCRA Water Management Plan Advisory Committee.
Recently, he learned LCRA officials are considering whether the authority should remove TCEQ approval from proposed revisions to the plan.
“It could be good, it could bad, depending on your point of view,” Vaughn said. “We have not seen any modeling to determine what impact it might have on us.”
The Central Texas Groundwater Conservation District knows the city plans to use groundwater as a backup supply if the lakes continue to dry up, he added.
“We have informed the district we are going to be a good neighbor,” Vaughn said. “We are not going to do anything to create a problem.”
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