Posted: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:56 AM - 14,660 Readers

By: Farzad Mashhood

A Pacific cold front was expected to cool things off in Central Texas today and bring a chance of rain.

Well the triple digit heat hasn’t slacked off.

The National Weather Service reports current temperatures in the Austin area to be about 101 degrees.

However, forecasters are still holding out the promise of rain later this afternoon into this evening.

Meanwhile, the Llano City Council is trying to help residents cope with drought restrictions. The council upgraded water restrictions for residential users to Stage 4 Monday evening but is allowing commercial customers to continue business under Stage 3 restrictions.

The city’s only source of drinking water, the Llano River, has been trickling through at less than 10 cubic feet per second for 12 days now. The river typically flows faster than 100 cubic feet per second at this time of year.

The Stage 4 restrictions include bans on all outdoor watering, vehicle washing and filling of swimming pools. Commercial operations are limited to landscape watering twice a week with a hose.


Two of the cities three car washes are bringing in well water and can operate any time, said city manager Finley deGraffenried. The third car wash has shut down.

The municipal pool is also being left open to give residents a place to swim in other than the river, deGraffenried said.

The council also decided to meet twice as often as the water situation worsens. They will meet weekly through September, but they could cancel them if the situation improves or extend them if it doesn’t, deGraffenried said.

“Council heard from several business owners (Monday night) that are all being very creative in their conservation efforts, and although our water situation is critical, we don’t want to put businesses in a position that puts people out of work provided they use water wisely,” Mayor Mike Reagor said in a statement.

Also the council approved a loophole in the Stage 4 restrictions for residents with vegetable gardens. Vegetable gardens can be hose-watered twice a week.

The City Council also amended Stage 5 restrictions, which would be enacted if the river stops flowing. Households that use more than 8,000 gallons a month can expect a sharp increase in rates.

Under the previous rule, the city would raise rates for any customers whose water use wasn’t cut back to less than half of what was used during winter. But that rule penalized those who conserve year-round, city staff said.

As for the rain, Llano County, in addition to Burnet and Williamson counties, is under a severe thunderstorm watch until 1 a.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather service.

Forecasts say there is a 40 percent chance of rain overnight, but meteorologists say there likely won’t be enough precipitation to alleviate the drought.