The City of Austin is currently in Stage One Drought Water Use Restrictions. Marisa Flores Gonzalez, Supervisor of the Water Resources Team at Austin Water, discusses what this means for customers and how Austin Water is planning to meet future water supply needs in the face of our changing climate.

What is the current state of drought in Austin and the surrounding region?

Flores Gonzalez: 2022 was a historically low inflow year, meaning there was less water going into Lakes Travis and Buchanan, which is where we get our drinking water. We got a little bit of rain and additional inflow into the lakes in May, but it certainly hasn’t been a drought-buster yet. We are still in a drought, with Stage One watering restrictions in effect in Austin. We anticipate that hotter temperatures and potentially continued drier conditions will likely lead to continued decreases in water stored in Lakes Travis and Buchanan through the summer and that further water restrictions may be necessary.

Are we in an El Niño weather pattern this year?

Flores Gonzalez: We’re officially in an El Niño period and that may mean some additional rain for us moving into the Fall. That said, we want folks to know that right now we’re still in a drought and conservation continues to be important. It’s important to maintain awareness of individual water use whether that be in a residential home or within a business. In fact, it will take significant rainfall to move us out of drought conditions by the end of the year. This is far from over unfortunately.

What is Austin Water doing to plan for future water needs?

Flores Gonzalez: Water Forward is the City of Austin’s 100-year integrated water resource plan. It was developed by Austin Water working closely with a Council-appointed Task Force over the course of three and a half years. The plan was approved by Council in November of 2018 and includes recommendations to improve our supply reliability and make sure we have a sustainable source of water for our customers through the next 100 years.

The main recommendations of the plan:

• Conserving more water through implementation of advanced metering infrastructure. This project, known as My ATX Water, is underway and will replace all of the analog water meters throughout the city with digital meters that can provide nearly real-time information to customers about their water use. The system can also alert folks about potential leaks on their property.

• Reducing utility side water losses.

• Transitioning new single family residential homes to less water-intensive landscapes and more efficient irrigation systems.

• Requiring or incentivizing more on-site water reuse systems for commercial developments, like rainwater harvesting or air conditioning condensate reuse.

• Connecting more developments and businesses to Austin Water’s centralized reclaimed water system to use non-potable water for uses like outdoor irrigation and indoor toilet flushing.

What else does the plan include?

Flores Gonzalez: The plan also includes strategies to continue protecting our core Colorado River supplies. For example, we are planning to build our resilience to drought through strategies like aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). ASR is a strategy that would make use of water from our existing water rights and contracts. We would treat that water to potable drinking water standards, convey the water to a wellfield and store it underground in a naturally occurring aquifer so that it could be available to us during periods of drought. We are in the desktop analysis phase of this project right now, evaluating potentially feasible pilot project locations. A pilot project will help us to make recommendations for a potential full scale ASR project.

What do you want Austin Water customers to know about their water use right now?

Flores Gonzalez: We need to be using our water responsibly and identifying ways to conserve, particularly for things like outdoor irrigation and other discretionary water uses. There is no substitute for water – it’s a finite resource! We encourage folks to use the My ATX water app, a portal that provides more information to customers about their water use, including helping them manage their water bills and save some money.

If you would like to find out more about how to conserve water, visit austinwater.com.

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