Did some searching around and stumbled upon this article..


By LAURA B. MARTINEZ The Brownsville Herald

Water levels at Lake Amistad have dropped to a record low, and the amount of water released from Amistad to the Falcon Reservoir will be reduced beginning Sunday.

Levels at Lake Amistad, on the Rio Grande near the Del Rio-Ciudad Acuna Coahuila, dropped to 1,058.29 feet on Friday, below the previous record-low elevation of 1,058.37 feet in August 1998, officials said Friday.

Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, said though the levels have dropped at Amistad, water will continue to be released from Amistad but at reduced amounts.

It is unknown if new low levels will have any impact on the city of Brownsville�s upcoming voluntary water conservation plan scheduled to begin May 1.

U.S. officials said the record low could be attributed to both the U.S. and Mexico releasing water from the Amistad Reservoir earlier this month. The water is being transferred downstream to the Falcon Reservoir to meet the irrigation and municipal demands in the Rio Grande Valley.
Officials said the water releases are due to the demands for water from the U.S. and Mexico and has nothing to with Mexico�s water deliveries to the United States under the 1944 Water Treaty.

Currently, releases from Amistad are about nearly 9,000 cubic feet per second. This includes 5,300 cubic feet per second from Mexico and 3,500 cubic feet from the U.S.

Spener reports the current lake levels are in contrast to the conditions the lakes experienced three years ago. In July 2010, the levels reached 1,129.86 feet, their highest elevations in 36 years.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will likely decide how much water it will release to irrigation districts and municipalities because of the reductions.
�We are deeply concerned about Amistad�s record low levels, but we are even more concerned about the severe impacts that Mexico�s refusal to meet its obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty is having, not only on Amistad, but on the entire middle and lower Rio Grande Valley,� said Carlos Rubinstein, commissioner for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
He added, �Make no mistake, the situation that Amistad is in today, and the dwindling reserves of water, are the direct result of Mexico�s refusal to meet its treaty obligations.�
Rubinstein said TCEQ continues to manage the water allocated for Texas and places the highest priority in protecting municipal reserves.

�While we have so far been able to do so,� he said, �our concern remains with the availability of irrigation water and the difficulty some irrigation districts will have in delivering water to some municipalities.�

The last time the levels at Lake Amistad dropped to 1,058.37 feet, Brownsville�s water conservation efforts were heightened to Stage 2, a phase where the conservation measures that are encouraged at Stage 1 are made mandatory.
The city�s Stage 1 voluntary conservation plan is already set to begin May 1.

Brownsville PUB spokesman Ryan Greenfeld said that at Stage 3, water surcharges are levied on usage while Stage 4 implements water rationing.
It is not immediately known if BPUB will implement more stringent water conservation measures due to the low levels at Lake Amistad.
Greenfeld said when reservoir levels reached 25 percent in 1998, the city began its Stage 2 water conservation efforts. The record low that August, Greenfeld said, was about 19 percent.
At 15 percent, Stage 3 of water conservation kicks in, he said.

Sounds like they need to pray for a hurricane or 2

Interesting.

I've heard 1.5 inches per day for the next 7 days.

When was this article written? Sounds like it was prior to May 1.

What do 'voluntary' mean?

rhetorical question. why would any municipality on the edge of a desert during a drought of biblical proportions not be on mandatory conservation plan?

it was dated back in April.

1944 treaty....maybe its time for a revision..lol.

What do 'voluntary' mean?

rhetorical question. why would any municipality on the edge of a desert during a drought of biblical proportions not be on mandatory conservation plan? [/quote]

Ha! Jesse!! You must be a real Cowboy fan....

Because there is no one to make it mandatory.