BY ANNA MANESS
District drought stages Although much of the Southwestern Travis County area was in exceptional drought in May, that was downgraded to moderate or no drought as of Aug. 14.
What else?
May 13
Aug. 14
The Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District protects the Trinity Aquifer, manages groundwater and declares stages of drought. On July 9, the district lowered its drought stage from extreme to severe. “While these rains were certainly welcomed and the lake is almost full, the Trinity Aquifer and a lot of the Hill County is in decline still,” General Manager Lane Cockrell said. “These rains are not going to reverse that trend.” The Trinity Aquifer is one of the most extensive and highly used groundwater resources in Texas, according to the Texas Water Development Board. Aquifers are slower to respond to precipitation than lakes are, Cockrell said, meaning rainfall could take “hundreds of thousands of years” to impact or recharge the aquifers. When rain does come, Cockrell recommends
No drought: base condition D0: abnormally dry D1: moderate drought D2: severe drought D3: extreme drought D4: exceptional drought
Southwestern Travis County Groundwater Conservation District
SOURCE: U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR/COMMUNITY IMPACT
“We have entire subdivisions here in our district that rely on groundwater for their indoor potable use,” Cockrell said. “You choose between watering your yard, or your neighbor being able to take a shower.”
people use it for irrigation, xeriscaping and rainwa- ter systems to reduce stress on the aquifer. With the majority of water in Texas used for outdoor irrigation, reducing irrigation is one of the most impactful conservation steps, Cockrell said.
Looking ahead
that situation,” Shepherd said. Throughout Central Texas, recovery efforts are ongoing. Travis County Judge Andy Brown said the community has entered into its debris cleanup stage and that rebuilding can begin afterward. In a July 23 interview with Community Impact , Brown said he anticipates debris cleanup taking a few more weeks. “Volunteers have done an amazing job at clearing out all the debris,” Brown said. “This is a very long process.”
means the lakes could fall short of meeting the needs of Central Texans, Hamilton said. “We’ve got to change how we manage our water. We’ve got to change the way we look at it,” Hamilton said. For Shepherd at Hurst Harbor Marina, it’s not a matter of if Lake Travis will dry out again—it’s a matter of when. “Right now, we should be conserving water just as much so we don’t put ourselves back in
In mid-2026, LCRA officials plan to submit an updated Water Management Plan to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for approval. Hamilton said there’s an opportunity for “real change” in the WMP to prevent history from repeating itself. When large water releases were conducted after heavy rainfall in 2007, Central Texas entered a seven-year “drought of record” shortly after, she said. Failing to conserve water received in July
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LAKE TRAVIS - WESTLAKE EDITION
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