Some Central Texas communities are under new watering restrictions.

It’s the first time since 1999 when the LCRA adopted its Water Management Plan that the agency has placed mandatory restrictions on its customers.

The new restrictions take effect Thursday, August 13, one day after the LCRA shut down the last of the public boat ramps on Lake Travis due to low levels.

The levels at Travis and Lake Buchanan are at 900,000 acre-feet. That’s the trigger level prompting these mandatory restrictions. After the flood in 2007, levels on the lake sat at more than 2 million acre-feet.

It's not the worst conditions Central Texas has faced. The droughts of the 1960s, the 80s and the decade-long drought in the 50s were worse.

“I believe this drought, whether it lasts one more week or heaven forbid another year, can be a turning point. After this drought ends, I hope we no longer take our water supplies for granted. I hope we treat water with the kind of respect it's given in arid Western states,” said the LCRA’s General Manager, Tom Mason.

This year's drought is blamed on two years without substantial rainfall and a 53-day streak of triple digit temperatures. The LCRA has charted about half the amount of rain in Central Texas than normally. The heat is causing water that is in the lake to evaporate much faster.

The restrictions will affect all LCRA wholesale water customers from Austin up to Cedar Park and Leadner.

The restrictions apply to outdoor water use. The LCRA wants customers to cut back water use by 25%.

“Most people over-water. I realize we're in a serious drought. The temperatures have been high and the evaporation rates are higher. But, you know, we can stress out our plants and they can still survive. We're really asking customers to not have lush green lawns, lush landscapes. We're in a drought. You can have a little brown and it will still come back,” said LCRA Water Conservationist, Nora Mullarkey.

Mullarkey suggests checking for leaks in sprinkler systems, watering lawns in the early morning or late evening hours, adding mulch to flower beds and restricting watering your lawn to once or twice a week.

There are specific restrictions for each community. That information is listed on the LCRA’s website, www.lcra.org

Along with the LCRA, the Lakeway community also enacted mandatory restrictions to its customers beginning August 13.