Lake Travis: Record Low?
Despite the rains, Lake Travis’ water elevation of 631.1 feet elevation is only two and a half feet higher than it’s low pf 628.5 feet in October. And this is only 11 feet higher than the low during the new drought of Record in 2013 of 620.1, and only 16 feet higher than the all-time low of 615.3 during the Drought of the ’50s in 1951. But… There are three very large and very unknown caveats that are quite meaningful when it comes to how much water we have left in the Highland Lakes (it’s 42% btw, Lake Travis is 39%).
In the 1950s. LCRA was releasing some 400,000 acre feet per year for hydroelectric generation. Since the 1970s though, LCRA no longer generates any electricity from water release alone; only with flood or municipal releases. So we really can in no way compare the drought of the 50s Lake Travis elevation with today, even with increase municipal and industrial releases that are only a bit north of 200,000 acre feet annually.
The second caveat is that in 2011, LCRA released an extra 400,000 cubic feet for irrigation that they wouldn’t normally have released. This was done at the beginning of the new Drought of Record (innocently…). Because Lake Travis fell so low during the new Drought of Record, their Water Management Plan was revised to shut down irrigation releases much earlier than before. These limits have been in place since spring 2022 with little water being released downstream for irrigation to today.
The third caveat is that in the summer of 2022 and 2023, all rivers flowing into the Highland Lakes ceased flowing. This was a first in 2022.
When everything is considered then, really, today we are very likely experiencing the worst drought the Highland Lakes have ever encountered.