Posted: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 08:54 PM - 40,450 Readers

By: Michael Theis - Austin Business Journal

Despite a literal flood of recent rain during the past few weeks, Austin will remain in Stage 2 watering restrictions, city officials said Wednesday. What's more, Austin Water officials suggest that the city should adopt one-day-per-week lawn watering schedules permanently.

For residents and businesses, the most-notable effect of Stage 2 water restrictions is the prohibition against watering lawns more than one day per week.

According to a memo from Austin City Manager Marc Ott, the city could consider a return to Stage 1 drought restrictions because the reservoirs of Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, from which Austin draws its water, have risen above 1.1 million acre-feet. Currently the two lakes have a combined 1.4 million acre-feet of water. Lake Travis currently has about 958,410 acre-feet of water, and is roughly 84 percent full. Lake Buchanan has about 457,370 acre-feet of water, but is only 52 percent full.

But the Lower Colorado River Authority and Austin Water both agree that it would be unwise to remove Stage 2 drought restrictions at this time.

"Going back immediately to a schedule less restrictive than one-day-per-week water schedule could send a signal that concerns about water are over," reads the memo. "On the contrary… history shows that massive rains during a drought can be followed by more years of drought."

The memo goes into detail on that history, noting that, despite the recent rains, less water has flowed into the lakes now than at the tail end of the historic Texas drought of the late 1940s and early 1950s.