Brazos River Authority goes to Stage 1 watch

WACO, Texas (KXAN) - The Brazos River Authority on Wednesday issued a Stage 1 drought watch notice, which immediately affects water users in Georgetown, Lakes Possum Kingdom, Granbury, Whitney and Proctor.

The drought watch is the result of prolonged dry weather conditions in the upper portions of the Brazos basin and is a response to new drought trigger levels established by the BRA’s updated Drought Contingency Plan.

The Brazos River main-stem reservoirs (Lakes Possum Kingdom, Granbury and Whitney) have been below the new Stage 1 Drought Watch trigger storage capacity of 561,290 acre-feet (af) since early September, according to officials.

Lake Proctor has also been below the new Stage 1 Drought Watch trigger elevation of 1158.2 feet mean sea level since early September. Lake Georgetown reached its new Stage 1 Drought Watch trigger following 30 days of pumping water from Lake Stillhouse Hollow to help maintain water supply.

The goal of the Stage 1 Drought Watch is a voluntary reduction of five percent of the water use that would have occurred in the absence of any drought contingency measure and to raise awareness of the developing drought situation.

The BRA has requested that customers who obtain their water supply from the reservoirs currently under Stage 1 consider the following actions:

• Activate their individual Drought Contingency Plan
• Increase public education efforts on ways to reduce water use
• Notify customers of actions being taken, and
• Any other actions appropriate in their individual situation

The BRA’s Drought Contingency Plan provides for several lake level triggering criteria, based on four levels of potential drought conditions. Should Stage II triggering criteria be met, both BRA customers and the general public will be notified, and customers will be asked to reduce water consumption by 10 percent or more depending on conditions at that time.