Friday, February 23, 2001
Rains help some lakes; water
woes continue
By Ken Ellsworth
Reporter-News Staff Writer
Rain across the Big Country last week raised
hopes and the levels of some area lakes, but not enough to undo
the damage caused by three years of drought.
Of the 21 area lakes monitored by the U.S.
Geological Survey, 11 gained water last week. But only six of
those lakes rose above levels recorded last July, when the drought,
use and evaporation were taking a heavy toll.
From Oct.1 through Wednesday, Abilene has
received nearly 14 inches of rain — twice the normal precipitation
for that time period. During the height of the drought from Oct.
1, 1999, through Feb. 21, 2000, rainfall in Abilene was just short
of 4 inches, or 3 inches below normal, according to the National
Weather Service in San Angelo.
Despite above-average rainfall since October
and a long-range outlook of normal rainfall through September,
weather service meteorologist Amy McCullough declined to say the
drought is over.
“That’s sort of out of our area
of expertise because it depends on a lot of factors, including
agricultural conditions,” McCullough said. “We are seeing
more rain. But from just looking at the area lake levels, I’d
say we’re going to need a lot more rain for our water supplies
to recover.”
Hubbard Creek Reservoir near Breckenridge
caught almost 2 feet of water last week, adding more than 10,000
acre-feet — equal to about 3.3 billion gallons of water.
Even that massive amount was still not enough to reverse a trend
of declining water levels.
Last summer, Hubbard stood at 55 percent
of capacity. The lake is now down to 47 percent of its capacity.
Hubbard serves Abilene, Albany, Anson and
Breckenridge.
“The situation depends on how you look
at it,” said Brett Froh, assistant general manager of the
West Central Texas Municipal Water District. “On one hand,
we’re under 50 percent capacity, so it doesn’t look
very good. On the other hand, we’ve got enough water to serve
our member cities for many years if we continue to get some rain.
“The district is serving its purpose
of providing water throughout a severe drought.”
The district is still encouraging its member
cities to conserve voluntarily, Froh said.
Even when Hubbard is half full, the lake
holds twice as much water as a full Lake Fort Phantom Hill.
Abilene’s main water source, Fort Phantom,
gained half a foot from the showers. Combined with heavy rains
in October, last week’s rains brought the lake up to 57 percent
of its capacity. Last July, the lake stood at just 40 percent
of capacity.
The best thing about last week’s rain
was that it reduced water consumption in Abilene and saturated
Fort Phantom’s watershed, said Linda Simpson, Abilene’s
assistant director of water utilities.
“Because of the saturation, we’re
in a good position to get a lot of runoff if we do get some good
rains,” she said.
Last year, the rains did not come and Abilenians
were restricted to watering their lawns just once every two weeks.
Dwayne Hargesheimer, Abilene’s water
utilities director, does not expect conditions to be quite as
severe this year. However, he said if Phantom fails to catch more
water, city residents may be restricted to watering their lawns
once a week.
Clyde, which buys water from Abilene, and
Baird got little help for their shrinking reservoirs, even though
last week’s rain was relatively generous.
“We’re still in pretty dire straits,”
Clyde City Manager Leroy George said.
Other area lakes collected varying amounts
of runoff fed by the rains:
Lake Daniel
Breckenridge received another bonus with
the partial refilling of nearby Lake Daniel, which was so low
it was closed to the public two weeks ago. The lake, which the
city owns and uses as an auxiliary water source, gained 5 feet
last week and reopened Wednesday.
Lake Daniel is still 13 feet below its spillway
and is filled to just 15 percent of its capacity.
“It’s possible that we may be
able to start taking water from the lake again,” City Manager
Gary Ernest said. “But we’re still in our drought contingency
plan and we don’t want people to believe that we’re
not still in a drought.”
Lake Stamford
Residents of Avoca, Ericksdahl, Hamlin,
Lueders, Paint Creek, Sagerton and Stamford can all rest easier.
Lake Stamford, which supplies all seven communities, rose 2.3
feet last week. The lake is 23 percent full, up from 17 percent
of its capacity during the late summer.
Lake Stamford users are still being asked
to voluntarily conserve water. Low lake levels had threatened
to make conservation measures mandatory. But the approximately
2-inch rain that fell on the lake’s watershed added 4,000
acre-feet, increasing the lake’s storage by more than 50
percent.
“This eases the tension,” said
Stamford City Manager Ken Roberson. “And we sure needed a
break.”
In addition to the rain, the long-term viability
of Lake Stamford was significantly improved Wednesday by the announcement
that Stamford has been approved for a $3.8 million loan and a
$2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The money will allow for a 60-inch pipeline
and a diversion dam to be built on California Creek. When the
project is complete, the city will be able to pump water from
the creek into Lake Stamford.
“This will more than double our watershed
area,” Roberson said. “This is a management tool to
ensure that we’ll have an adequate water supply and one that
will allow for growth in the future.”
Lake Throckmorton
Lake Throckmorton nearly dried up last summer
and forced the city to build an emergency pipeline to connect
to the Fort Belknap Water District and Lake Graham. Last week’s
rains raised the lake 4 feet.
Its watershed received more than 3 inches
of precipitation, Throckmorton Mayor John Kunkel said.
Throckmorton is still largely dependent
on Lake Graham and takes water from Lake Throckmorton just once
every three or four days. The Fort Belknap Water District is laying
larger pipelines to increase the water supply to Throckmorton.
The work should be completed in March.
“If we can just get another shower,
that would help, too,” Kunkel said.
Oak Creek Reservoir
Oak Creek Reservoir and Lake Sweetwater,
both water sources for the city of Sweetwater, received little
runoff despite the rainfall. Both lakes’ levels have dropped
significantly since the summer.
The city has developed a water well field
with 27 wells, which will meet the city’s needs in droughts.
The wells should begin pumping in March, said City Manager David
Maddox.
Oak Creek, Sweetwater’s principal water
supply, is so low that water quality has decreased, forcing the
city to increase its treatment and filtration processes to keep
the water safe, Maddox said.
Runnels County lakes
The small lakes in Runnels County that are
a water source to Ballinger, Winters and other communities, rose
little despite some precipitation.
Jack Davis Jr., Winters’ water superintendent,
said if evaporation and usage on Lake Winters rise, mandatory
rationing may be imposed.
Ballinger began pumping water directly from
the Colorado River into Ballinger Lake last Sunday. The city is
also pumping from water wells sunk near the lake.
Even so, Ballinger City Manager Tommy New
said he does not expect Ballinger Lake to rise without rain.
“We’re just trying to save enough
water for summer,” he said.
Contact regional writer Ken Ellsworth
at 676-6777 or ellsworthk@abinews.com
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Copyright ©2001,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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