Posted: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 11:47 AM - 11,556 Readers

By: Highland Lakes Newspaper

Due to current drought conditions, LCRA will not lower Inks Lake this winter. Inks Lake is one of the smaller pass-through lakes in the chain of six Highland Lakes.

Several lake-area organizations and residents submitted requests to LCRA in September for a drawdown to allow for dock repair and maintenance.

They had hoped that fall rains would increase the chances that the request would be approved. However, as of Nov. 30, the level of Lake Buchanan, which would be used to refill Inks Lake, had only risen about six feet from its lowest level earlier this summer.

Those low levels are the result of a drought that has lasted more than two years and has been accompanied by record-high temperatures and record-low inflows into the Highland Lakes.

The current level of Lake Buchanan is slightly below 996 feet above mean sea level (msl), or 24 feet below the lake’s full elevation of 1,020 feet msl. Lake Buchanan’s average monthly level for November is 1,012 feet msl.

“Although the amount of water needed to refill Inks Lake is relatively small and would be recaptured in downstream lakes, we need to be sensitive to those around Lake Buchanan who are still experiencing significant problems accessing the lake at these low lake levels and the economic and recreational impacts of that,” said Mark Jordan, manager of LCRA’s reservoir operations. “Hopefully, wetter conditions will bring higher lake levels so we can look at lowering the lake for repair and maintenance work next year,” he added.

LCRA also declined a request from the City of Austin to lower Lake Austin this winter, again citing drought conditions.

Current lake levels, even with the reduced need for environmental flows and water releases this winter, are still too low to accommodate a drawdown. Over the past decade, Lake Austin has been lowered several times to help control the aggressive non-native aquatic plant hydrilla.