The Highland Lakes water supply is unlikely to be replenished this summer because of ongoing drought conditions, officials from the Lower Colorado River Authority announced June 24.

LCRA General Manager Becky Motal said the amount of new water flowing into lakes Travis and Buchanan so far this year is on pace with record lows in 2011, and the extended forecast predicts more hot and dry conditions. Consequently, she said, there is not likely to be a significant amount of new water to flow into the lakes, which are currently 38 percent full.

"I have often said a drought is a natural disaster in slow motion," Motal said. "We can't predict when it will end, but we can assure you we will have another flood."

Motal also assured firm water customers—municipal customers such as the city of Austin that have guaranteed contracts for Lake Travis water—that their water supply will not be exhausted. That comes in part from an emergency drought order the LCRA board requested the past two years that cuts off downstream agricultural operations, or interruptible customers, from Highland Lakes water. Both Motal and Scott Spears, an LCRA board member and water operations committee chairman, have suggested such action may again be necessary in 2014 if drought conditions persist.

"That's why they get cheaper water, and that's why it's called interruptible," Spears said. "We had to interrupt that supply for the good of the firm water customers."

Despite the speculation, both LCRA officials agreed that such a decision is not likely until closer to the end of the year.

"We want to give the good Lord enough time to produce as much rain as possible," Spears said.

Part of the problem this year has been the lack of rain within the Colorado River basin despite some significantly large storms that have hit Central Texas. Ryan Rowney, LCRA's manager of water operations, said rain ideally needs to fall north of Lake Buchanan, west of Lake Travis or immediately along the 10,000 square miles of land along the river basin.

"Nature started this drought. and as Becky [Motal] said, nature will end this drought," Rowney said.