Despite Rains, Drought Persists in Texas

Recent rains delivered runoff to area reservoirs, relieved parched lawns and diluted some of the drought gloom and doom.

Hoping for more showers to come, cities have calmed the charge toward tougher water restrictions. But almost two years in the works, the North Texas drought is far from over.

"The rains have certainly eased things," said Dan Huckabee, a National Weather Service climatologist in Fort Worth. "But we still have tremendous deficits. The ground's still soaking it up. We've got a long ways to go."

October and November typically are among the region's rainiest months. Despite recent showers, total rainfall across the area has been below normal since January 2005.

Water elevations at the five reservoirs supplying Dallas Water Utilities – Ray Hubbard, Ray Roberts, Lewisville, Grapevine and Tawakoni – range from about 4 to almost 13 feet below normal. Together, the lakes are about 65 percent full, a depletion that prompted the utility to impose voluntary Stage 1 conservation measures last month.

Then there's North Texas Municipal Water District and the two reservoirs that have been supplying more than half of the water it provides to 1.6 million people in Dallas and six neighboring counties.

Lavon Lake in Collin County, the district's primary water source, stands about 38 percent full and more than 16 feet below normal elevation despite notable rainfall in its watershed.

Jim Chapman Lake, about 50 miles to the east, is about 17 percent full and 17 feet below normal.

The water district has stopped drawing water from the drying reservoir. And Irving officials fear the lake won't be able to meet the city's needs after May.

At Lavon, above-average October rains produced scant runoff and raised the water level a mere 6 inches.

That gain was gone in 17 days before heavy rains (including 3.27 inches in McKinney on Nov. 5) raised the lake elevation about a foot, a level now dropping again.

Wait-and-see approach

With the drought persisting, water supplies dwindling and population increasing demand, the water district and its cities imposed Stage 3 conservation restrictions in June, including limiting outdoor watering to once a week.

District officials and representatives from some of its largest cities – including Plano, Allen, Frisco, Garland and Mesquite – talked two months ago of imposing even tighter cutbacks, short of rationing, including a ban on outdoor watering.

But such a move is on hold for now.

"We're still open to that," said Mike Rickman, the district's executive assistant. "But we're waiting to see what kind of rain events we'll have."

It's going to take persistent above-average rainfall to fill Lavon and Chapman reservoirs or at least revive them enough to end the Stage 3 restrictions, he and others say.

Ditto for breaking the drought, said Mr. Huckabee, the weather service climatologist.

"That's not going to cut it," he said of average rainfall, "when you've got a two-year drought going on."

The U.S. Drought Monitor classifies the North Texas drought as "severe" to "extreme," an improvement from the worst-case "exceptional" rating given from August to mid-October.

On the plus side, cooler weather reduces reservoir evaporation and typically cuts water demand for landscape irrigation.

And this year, weather forecasts are calling for a wetter-than-normal December through May.

No end in sight

In the meantime, the water district and area cities expect an ongoing drought – one that could force water rationing if it persists into next summer, officials say.

For example:

• The water district plans to begin dredging portions of Lavon next month and will join with Irving in a similar project at Chapman.

• Cities in the water district continue to enforce their conservation rules. Instead of ticketing violators, Plano will begin shutting off and locking automatic sprinklers operated illegally by early next year. The cost to remove a lock: $210.

The new procedure will lift what's been a burden of sorts on Plano's municipal court, which has handled about 6,400 citations and received $730,367 in fines.

"Maybe it's been too successful," public works director Jimmy Foster said of the ticketing.

"This will be more efficient," he said.

"We don't want to be heavy-handed, but this is serious business."