Council committee gets drought update

Austin Water Utility officials didn’t promise any miracles during a briefing on the city’s drought response and water supply at last week’s Austin Water Oversight Committee meeting.

As of Aug. 14, the city was in exceptional drought conditions that pushed the community into Stage 2 water restrictions. Assistant Director Kevin Critendon said that while he was hopeful that autumn and El Nino would ease drought conditions in the future, that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

“We will be here at Stage 2 for quite some time,” he said, noting they would continue to monitor water supply issues and urge conservation moving forward.

Teresa Lutes, who is a systems planning division manager, gave an overview of the city’s water supply, which comes from Lake Austin and Lake Travis through a combination of senior water rights and water supply contracts with LCRA. A chart of the Highland Lakes inflow, as seen below, painted a grim picture of the current situation.

Credit: Austin Water

“Last year was the lowest inflow year. This year, we’re a little ahead of that, but we’re still tracking pretty low,” said Lutes.

Water releases to downstream farmers have been cut off since mid-2022, which was also the case during the drought that started in 2008 and ended in 2015. Currently, Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis are at about 45 percent of their capacity, which is what triggers the drought contingency plan.

Committee Chair Leslie Pool said she was glad the city had set the baseline for irrigation at one day per week, setting a standard for a long-term shift away from water-dependent resources like St. Augustine grass.

“I think, on the whole, Austin is a very responsible community, as far as trying to limit how much water we use,” said Pool. “Cause we can’t make any more of it.”

Fellow committee members Alison Alter and Ryan Alter echoed support for climate-resistant landscaping as a water conservation planning tool moving forward.

AWU water conservation manager Kevin Kluge said that his team had increased public outreach and engagement about saving water, particularly outdoors. He reminded the committee about the Stage 2 restrictions that are currently in effect, and encouraged community members to monitor their own water use, save water, and sign up for leak alerts.

“We’re all in this together,” said Kluge. “Despite all the efforts of the water utility, we cannot solve our shortages. We have to work together as a community.”

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.