LCRA River Report
Operations Summary
Aug 20 2009 7:29AM
On Thursday, it will be a very hot and sunny day with high temperatures over 100 and overnight lows in the upper 70s. The water temperature at the surface of Lake Travis is 85 degrees.
As of August 20 at 7 am, the level of Lake Buchanan was at 993.30 feet above mean sea level (ft msl), which is about 18.8 feet below its historic average level in August of 1,012.11 ft msl. Lake Travis was at 633.75 ft msl, which is about 32.5 feet below its historic average level in August of 666.29 ft msl. The total combined storage in the Highland Lakes two water storage reservoirs, lakes Buchanan and Travis, is about 867,090 acre-feet (ac-ft), or about 43 percent full. These low lake and storage levels reflect the ongoing rainfall deficit that began in the fall of 2007. For more information about the ongoing drought conditions and watering restrictions in your community, visit:
www.lcra.org/droughtupdate The Highland Lakes provide water for irrigation, municipal, industrial and environmental needs around the Highland Lakes and along the lower river from Tom Miller Dam to Matagorda Bay. Only significant rainfall will replenish the water consumed from the lakes, released for downstream needs and lost to evaporation. Without significant rainfall, lake and storage levels will continue to drop. The decline in levels is expected to slow after mid-October, when releases to the lower river for irrigation will cease.
Lake Buchanan has only been lower during three past droughts:
Drought Lowest Level Date
1984 987.97 ft msl Oct. 7, 1984
1964 986.63 ft msl Sep. 20, 1964
1950's 983.70 ft msl Sep. 9, 1952 (the lake's all-time low elevation)
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