Central Texas Lake Levels Update

Central Texas lake levels moved a little this week, but the bigger story is that the region’s two main reservoirs are still living in very different worlds. Lake Buchanan is close to full. Lake Travis is not. Recent April rain helped steady things, and in some places nudged levels up, but it did not erase the gap that matters most for water supply and recreation. (waterdatafortexas.org) ### Which lakes matter most here? For Central Texas, the load-bearing pair is Lake Buchanan and Lake Travis. Those are the Highland Lakes reservoirs that do the real water-supply work for more than 1 million people and many industries in the lower Colorado River basin. The other lakes in the chain — Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls, and Aust(waterdatafortexas.org)g-term storage buckets. (kxan.com) ### Where do they stand right now? Lake Travis averaged 663.75 feet on April 29 and sat 73.3% full, with about 804,630 acre-feet in conservation storage. Lake Buchanan averaged 1,018.63 feet on April 25 and sat 96.5% full, with about 836,138 acre-feet in conservation storage. Near-real-time LCRA reading(kxan.com)or Buchanan. (waterdatafortexas.org) ### So did the rain actually help? Yes — but mostly as a stabilizer, not a miracle refill. Lake Travis was 72.9% full a week before April 29, so it gained a few tenths of a percentage point. Buchanan moved more clearly, from 96.0% full on April 18 to 96.5% on April 25. That is real improvement, but it is also modest. The lakes did not suddenly jump back to full-pool conditions. (waterdatafortexas.org) ### Why does Travis still look weak? Because Travis is the more volatile reservoir in the system. It rises fast when runoff is strong, but it also drops faster and sits farther below its “full” mark of 681 feet. In March, LCRA’s spring outlook showed Travis around 665.75 feet and warned that under anything short of wet conditions it w(waterdatafortexas.org)cally, spring rain helped — just not enough to reverse the broader drawdown. (kxan.com) ### Why is Buchanan in better shape? Buchanan entered spring with much more cushion. It was already above 94% full a month ago, and by late April it had climbed to 96.5%. That leaves it only about 30,556 acre-feet below conservation capacity. Travis, by contrast, was still about 293,414 acre-feet below full. Same weather region, very different starting point. (waterdatafortexas.org) ### What about Canyon Lake? Canyon is outside the Highland Lakes system, but it tells a similar drought-recovery story. After recent rain, inflow there spiked to nearly 500 cubic feet per second on April 21, and the lake reached 58.6% of conservation capacity on April 22. Better than last year’s 46.5% level for the same period — but still far from healthy. (mysanantonio.com) ### Why do people feel this so directly? Because lake levels are not just a planning metric. They change boat ramp access, marina operations, shoreline usability, and how people read the drought around them. They also shape how much buffer water managers have going into summer heat, when evaporation and demand both climb. A lake that is “up a little” can still feel very low if it started far behind. (lcra.org) ### Bottom line Central Texas got some relief in April. But the update is not “the lakes are back.” It is that Buchanan is nearly there, Travis is still lagging, and one more wet stretch would matter a lot more for summer than one decent week of rain. (waterdatafortexas.org)