Two-minute impact
The drought warning was issued March 6 due to dry conditions in the Lower Colorado River Basin as a response to drought trigger levels established by the BRA’s drought contingency plan, in accordance with the LCRA agreement.
Per the release, 25,000 acre-feet of LCRA water is made available for use in Williamson County through a contract between the two river authorities. BRA customers using this water include the cities of Round Rock, Georgetown and Liberty Hill.
An acre-foot is the volume of water that covers an acre of ground to a depth of one foot, and one acre-foot is equivalent to 325,851 gallons of water, according to a BRA fact sheet.
Diving in deeper
Due to recent rainfall, the combined storage of Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis rose above the Stage 1 drought watch storage trigger of 1.1 million acre-feet, per the release.
Since the LCRA is no longer in a drought response stage under its drought contingency plan, the Stage 2 drought warning can be rescinded, per the release.
How we got here
Over the Independence Day weekend, Central Texas received a tremendous amount of rainfall. Lake Travis rose almost 20 feet over the holiday weekend, Community Impact previously reported.
On July 22, the U.S. Drought Monitor estimated that drought conditions are still affecting 102,208 residents in Travis County, but none in Williamson County.
