From the cover
Water restrictions remain as drought persists in Cedar Park, Austin
Diving in deeper
Two-minute impact
Starting in September, Cedar Park also began implementing water compliance controls in which utility employees go door to door to customers to inform them of their usage. Austin Water Assistant Director Kevin Critendon said because the city relies solely on surface water, the utility is constantly manag- ing lake levels, even outside of drought conditions. After the region’s last major drought in 2011, city leaders put together a task force—now called Water Forward—with a goal to plan Austin’s water needs for the next 100 years.
Austin and Cedar Park solely rely on surface water purchased from the Lower Colorado River Authority from the Highland Lakes, causing customers to be impacted more by low lake levels compared to cities with diversified water sources. To combat raging heat tempera- tures, Cedar Park moved to Stage 3 drought restrictions in August, and Austin remains in Stage 2. Cedar Park leaders have boosted conservation efforts recently with social media outreach, educational programs and a program providing financial credits to residents with rain barrels.
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
195
Austin & Cedar Park water usage in 2022 Average daily water usage typically goes up during the summer due to outdoor irrigation and other discretionary uses of water, city officials said. Austin Cedar Park
and occurs when the region experiences 98% dryness.
183
Williamson County
35
Exceptional drought (D4)
Travis County
200
100% of Hays, Travis and
130 TOLL
71
194.6
160
Williamson Counties are in exceptional drought 422,679 Williamson County residents in drought areas 2nd driest July on record in 129 years in Williamson County
290
120
Hays County
80
35
18.49
40
N
SOURCE: U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR/COMMUNITY IMPACT *AS OF SEPT. 7
0
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
Apr.
May
Jun.
Jul.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
SOURCE: CITY OF AUSTIN/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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