Near-record low inflows for Highland Lakes in 2023 raise water worries
Central Texas Water Coalition President Tom Harrison and Executive Director Shannon Hamilton addressed the Burnet County Commissioners Court on Jan. 9 with concerns over low inflows for lakes Buchanan and Travis. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Water inflows for the Highland Lakes in 2023 were close to the lowest on record, Central Texas Water Coalition leaders told the Burnet County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
“If we have the combination of the (19)50s drought with the inflow problem we have today, we are going to be really hurting,” coalition President Tom Harrison said. “That is something we really have to be concerned about.”
Harrison was referring to the historic drought that lasted from 1950-57 and dropped the Highland Lakes to their lowest recorded levels. According to current data from the Lower Colorado River Authority, shockingly low amounts of water flowed into lakes Buchanan and Travis in 2023 compared to historical averages.
For example, just 1,001 acre-feet of water flowed into the reservoirs in July 2023. The historical average for that month from 1942 to 2022 is close to 80,000 acre-feet. The inflows in August 2023 were even more shocking, with only 91 acre-feet of water reaching the reservoirs compared to the all-time average of nearly 60,000 acre-feet.
One acre-foot is the volume of water contained within a one-acre area that is one foot deep, or 325,851 gallons. The average American family uses about 109,500 gallons, or 0.336 acre-feet, of water per year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The one shining light in 2023 was October, when inflows broke through recent averages, reaching nearly 75,000 acre-feet for the month compared to the 2008-15 average of roughly 45,000 acre-feet. Both numbers are still far below the all-time October average of 125,000 acre-feet.
Lakes Buchanan and Travis, along with the tributaries that feed them, are the main reservoirs for Central Texas and the primary water supply for Highland Lakes communities like Marble Falls and Kingsland as well as the Austin metropolitan area.
“There’s a lot of issues that we’re dealing with,” said the CTWC’s Harrison. “We’ve talked to the LCRA, and we do have a lot of things we can do together.”
Working alongside the LCRA is essential to moving forward with water conservation efforts, said CTWC Executive Director Shannon Hamilton.
The coalition was highly critical of the LCRA throughout 2023 and publicly demanded the authority make changes to its water management plan, which was denied. Burnet County commissioners Joe Don Dockery and Jim Luther Jr. both went to Austin in September 2023 to ask the LCRA to make emergency changes to its water management and curtail non-essential outflows from the Highland Lakes.
Burnet County Judge James Oakley echoed the sentiments of Harrison and Hamilton on the need to work together.
“We need to make sure that we can sit down and talk about these things without it being a battle,” he said.