Memo: Austin Water anticipates drought water restrictions soon

In a memo to Austin council members, Austin Water’s interim director said staff anticipates drought response stage one regulations will be triggered “in the near future.” This would be the first water restriction stage since November 2018 when Austin entered its base water conservation stage.

The combined storage of Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis will soon fall below 1.4 million acre-feet, which will trigger the regulations, interim director Robert Goode wrote in the May 20 memo. Lake Travis is at its lowest level since 2015 at about 16 feet below average. The main change under state one restrictions is the reduction of automatic irrigation hours, the memo said. Hours will be limited to between 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. Austin Water said it would inform Austin residents of “the impending declaration” through press releases, social media, radio and television announcements and website updates.