Archives > News Update
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Lake levels begin their mid-summer drop
Kelsey Kruzich / Staff Photo: The water level at Lake Lavon has dropped more than four feet since mid-May, when it was 100 percent full. At East Fork Park in Wylie, the water has receded well away from the bank, but the boat dock is still operational.
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com
Heavy rains during the winter and spring left many area lakes at or above capacity. However, a recent stretch of triple-digit temperatures and little-to-no rainfall has begun to take its toll on water levels.
Lake Lavon, which was full as recently as mid-May, is currently four feet below full capacity. Lewisville Lake finds itself in a similar situation, dropping three feet since the end of April. While no calls have been made for additional water restrictions, local water districts are cautiously monitoring lake levels in order to ensure there is enough water to go around.
"We are in much better shape than we were last year because of all of the inflow [from December to April]," said Denise Hickey, spokeswoman for the North Texas Municipal Water District. "However, we still have Lake Texoma offline."
"The water district will stay in some form of the drought water emergency response plan until we can get Texoma fully restored," Hickey said. "We just have to get through this summer and then next summer."
Mark Israelson, the city of Plano's director of policy and government relations, said current Stage 2 restrictions imposed by the NTMWD allow for twice-a-week watering, with no watering from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Part of the problem last summer may have been that Stage 2 restrictions were not put into place until Aug. 19, Israelson said. Since that time, the restrictions increased to Stage 3 during the winter and spring, before returning to the current Stage 2 status in June.
With Lewisville Lake proving to be one of the most popular recreational lakes in the state, Randy Cephus of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Fort Worth office urged caution as lake levels continue to fall.
"Safety is one of our main priorities," Cephus said. "These are man-made lakes and there are tree stumps, debris, vehicles and other things down on the bottom. When the lake is dropping some of those hazards come up to the surface so we want people to use caution, even those who frequently visit the lakes."
As far as what the future holds in regard to lake levels, Jamie Gudmestad of the National Weather Service said they will likely continue to drop as the summer heat wave continues. This summer has been hotter than normal, she said, but the June and July average temperatures were actually 2 degrees below what they were last summer.
Weather and climate models predict that August through October will have a normal amount of precipitation, but will be warmer than normal, Gudmestad said. However, she said there is hope that things may turn around from November to February when models show a 30 to 40 percent chance of greater than normal precipitation.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News Update «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
