Pflugerville will need to find and secure more water to provide for its future population growth, according to a presentation given by Assistant City Manager Tom Word on March 24.

Word presented on the future water demands of Pflugerville during a City Council work session covering water needs during the next 30–50 years, when Word estimates the area will be completely developed.

"There is [going to] have to be a whole lot more water brought into the city of Pflugerville if we're going to grow to 275,000 people," Word said. "We want to make sure that the area can grow reasonably—that there's no lack of water that will prevent the city from developing the way we want it to."

Word said that when the city is fully developed, he estimates Pflugerville would need 36,000 acre-feet of water. Currently, he said, the city has 12,000 acre-feet reserved.

An acre-foot is how much water (325,851.429 gallons) it takes to cover an acre one foot deep.

For the time being, the provider of Pflugerville's water is being negotiated, Word said.

"We are continuing to have conversations and negotiations, but nothing has been finalized," Word said.

Word also presented on the effects of the drought on Pflugerville, some of which are just now being realized. He estimated that within the last year, roughly more than 100 trees have died along Gilleland Creek Trails and Parks, and more than 250 large trees have died on public lands and easements citywide.

The total estimated cost of removal of these trees is roughly $100,000. He also estimated that repairing the drought damage of streets citywide will cost roughly more than $5,000,000.

And just because Lake Pflugerville is currently full doesn't mean the city is out out of the drought woods quite yet.

"If it stopped raining today and it didn't rain again for a long period of time, it's possible we could be in Stage 4 water restrictions this summer," Word said. "The trigger is the combined storage in Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis. So if the total water in those two reservoirs gets below 600,000 acre-feet, then we'd have to go into Stage 4."

Currently, Pflugerville is in Stage 2 water restrictions, which require watering only twice a week on designated days and times.

But if the city keeps receiving the level of rainfall it has been experiencing, Word said, and if the combined storage rises above 900,000 acre-feet, the city possibly could move back into a voluntary, or Stage 1, program which recommends watering only twice a week.

"But even if we have average rainfall between now and summer, Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis still won't fill up," Word said. "They'll come up, but only gradually. It's going to take a significant rain event in that area to be able to fill up those lakes."