Granite Shoals residents, businesses get Stage 2 outdoor water restrictions

GRANITE SHOALS — The city has joined a list of other municipalities and agencies calling for tighter outdoor water restrictions in the face of the state’s worsening drought.

Granite Shoals is asking residents and commercial customers to observe Stage 2 conditions for water use, officials said.

"It’s mainly at the request of the Lower Colorado River Authority," said City Manager Judy Miller.

The city is a firm-water customer of the LCRA, which means it buys water from the authority.

The river authority has asked all its customers to implement Stage 2 water restrictions, said LCRA spokeswoman Clara Tuma.

"This is part of the water-management plan," Tuma said. "We have certain trigger points and when the water amounts hit those points, we take some actions."

Under Stage 2, Granite Shoals is restricting landscape watering to a twice-a-week schedule.

Residential customers with addresses ending in odd numbers can water Wednesday and Saturday before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m. Those residents with even-numbered addresses can water Thursday and Saturday during the same hours.

Commercial customers can water on Tuesday and Friday before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m. as well.

Miller said violations will result in a warning the first time, but the drought-contingency plan does allow the city to issue fines.

For more on the Granite Shoals water restrictions, go to www.graniteshoals.org.

Water for LCRA customers is drawn from two reservoirs — lakes Buchanan and Travis — which have been shrinking due to the drought.

Weather experts said Texas is in the grip of the worst single-year dry spell since 1895.

On Aug. 23, the combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis dropped to 900,000-acre feet, which is a trigger point under the LCRA’s state-appoved water management plan.

Tuma said at that point the river authority began asking customers to implement more stringent water-conservation efforts.

According to the LCRA, lakes Buchanan and Travis combined are 42 percent full.

As of Sept. 7, Lake Buchanan is at 991 feet above mean sea level. The normal average for September is 1,010 feet.

Lake Travis is at 633 feet, compared to its September average of 664 feet.

The entire lower Colorado River basin from San Saba County to the Gulf of Mexico remains under an exceptional drought.

Lake inflows  to the Highland Lakes and the Colorado River have slowed to a trickle or stopped completely, officials said.

From January through July, the LCRA recorded only 73,694-acre feet of water entering the Highland Lakes. During a similar period — the 2009 drought — 183,254-acre feet entered the Highland Lakes.

The typical average during that period is 819,530-acre feet.  An acre-foot of water is the amount it takes to cover one acre in a foot of water or 325,853 gallons.

Currently all LCRA-maintained utilities in Burnet and Llano counties including Bonanza Beach, Hamilton Creek, Lake Buchanan, Paradise Point, Quail Creek, Ridge Harbor, Sandy Harbor, Smithwick Mills, Spicewood Beach, Sunrise Beach, Tow Village and White-water Springs are under Stage 2 water restrictions.

The LCRA has placed Lomita Regional Water System under Stage 3.

Firm-water customers such as Windermere Oaks are also under Stage 3. The Kingsland Water Supply Corp. remains at Stage 2, as does Marble Falls.