From the cover
Leaders seek to secure future water resources as drought drags on
Current situation
Two-minute impact
stages of the Williamson County Return Flows project, which includes building a new pipe and reservoir that will help ensure consistent access and affordable water for residents. The project will allow the Brazos River Basin, which purchases water from the LCRA at a sur- charge, to receive water without the additional fee so long as the potable water used is returned back to the LCRA. Pflugerville Public Utilities Director Brandon Pritchett said the project is in the preliminary stages and could cost up to $500 million. “Water and wastewater is a long game,” Pritchett said. “We work in geologic time, not in standard time. So we have to plan out for 30, 40, 50 years because water supply and water infrastructure projects don’t happen overnight.”
Pflugerville gets most of its water from the Highland Lakes through a contract with the Lower Colorado River Authority. A small portion of the city’s water—6 million gallons per day—comes from well water sourced from the Edwards Aquifer. Hutto receives most of its water through wells that draw from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer about 50 miles east of Austin. Both cities are looking to build new water infrastructure that will increase capacity for their growing populations. Hutto’s fiscal year 2023-24 bud- get includes over $200 million for a new water storage tank, a well water-pumping site and wastewa- ter infrastructure improvements to bolster the city’s water capacity. Pflugerville and some William- son County entities are in the early
and Stillhouse Hollow Lake, are similarly low. “Given how long our [rainfall] deficits go back and how significant they are, we’ll continue to see drought impacts through the end of this year, almost guaranteed,” National Weather Service meteorologist Keith White said. “The good news about the El Niño, though, is that it will tilt our odds toward wetter conditions by the time we get into the winter time. So we can hopefully start to make up some of those deficits in December, January and February of next winter.”
Central Texas was hit with a double threat this summer: record-breaking high heat and little rainfall. The region has seen temperatures over 100 degrees nearly every day since July 8, causing increased evaporation of local water reservoirs, dried-out soil and increased wildfire risk. Lakes Travis and Buchanan collectively dipped to 44% capacity in August, the lowest they’ve been since 2013, according to the Lower Colorado River Authority. Other regional water sources, including the Edwards Aquifer, Lake Georgetown
Exceptional drought —or Level D4 drought—is the most intense drought category on the U.S. drought monitor
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and occurs when the region experiences 98% dryness.
183
Williamson County
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Extreme drought (D3) Exceptional drought (D4)
Travis County
130 TOLL
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City water use changes Variations in water use occur regularly due to new conservation measures and growing city populations.
Percentage of county in exceptional drought conditions Williamson County
290
Hays County
99.5% Travis County 100% Hays County 100%
In Pflugerville from July 2022 to July 2023, the average daily water use fell from 13.85 million gallons per day to 10.57 million gallons per day, dropping by 23.66%
In Hutto , the city’s average water use between 2019-21 increased from 1.58 million gallons per day to 1.69 million gallons per day, or by 6%
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AS OF AUG. 30
SOURCE: U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR/COMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCES: CITY OF PFLUGERVILLE, CITY OF HUTTO/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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