Leander, Liberty Hill work to secure water supply amid drought From the cover
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have moving forward is a lack of production capacity with our current wells,” he said. “But we are also looking at resolving those with several future projects.” Teeter said Leander has remained under restrictions because its water infrastructure has not kept up with population growth; however, the BCRUA’s Deep Water Intake Phase 2 project—which will build a tunnel to extract water from the bottom of Lake Travis—aims to address that. “We have a major project to help us get water out of Lake Travis in a better way that will make it more available even when the lake [is] lower,” Teeter said.
Leander residents receive water from the Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority, a partnership among Leander, Cedar Park and Round Rock that distributes water from Lake Travis. Liberty Hill receives 25% of its water capacity from three active wells and 75% from an interlocal agreement with Leander to purchase treated water. David Thomison, director of public works in Liberty Hill, said one well is being expanded to produce twice the amount of water and the city is looking to identify additional sites for water treatment facilities. “One of the issues that we
and Stillhouse Hollow Lake, are similarly low. “Given how long our [rainfall] decits go back and how signicant 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 decits 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 wildre 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
and occurs when the region experiences 98% dryness.
183
Williamson County
Leander and Liberty Hill water usage Leander Liberty Hill
35
Extreme drought (D3) Exceptional drought (D4)
Millions of gallons of water per day
Millions of gallons of water per month
Travis County
20
25
130 TOLL
71
Percentage of county in exceptional drought conditions Williamson County
20
15
290
15
Hays County
10
99.5% Travis County 100% Hays County 100%
10
35
5
5
0
0
N
AS OF AUG. 30
SOURCE: U.S. DROUGHT MONITORCOMMUNITY IMPACT
SOURCES: CITY OF LEANDER, CITY OF LIBERTY HILL COMMUNITY IMPACT
20
COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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