Austin Water reports 91% Highland Lakes storage, cautions hotter summer could push contingency planning

Austin Water told the Resource Management Commission on June 16 that the system's combined storage in Lakes Buchanan and Travis was about 91% and that Q1 per-capita water use remained low, but warned that seasonal forecasts point to higher temperatures and a drier summer that could push the city toward contingency drought stages.

Assistant Director Kevin Crittendon summarized the utility's Q1 highlights: five community conservation grants awarded, resumption of a large-diameter leak-detection contract (about 17,000 linear feet of pipe inspected in February), and broadly low gallons-per-capita-day figures likely tied to a wetter first quarter. "We will be focusing attention in the spring and summer months on customer conservation," Crittendon said, noting the utility will publish refinements to the myATX automated metering portal to send rain-day notifications to customers.

Crittendon also walked commissioners through the drought outlook. He said Highland Lakes inflows have improved compared with 2025 and the combined storage level was "right at 91%," with Lake Buchanan near 99% and Lake Travis near 85%. He cited NOAA's three-month outlook and an El Nif1o signal that could bring more variable conditions. Staff warned that certain drier scenarios could reduce storage toward the contingency threshold (about 1,400,000 acre-feet), at which point the city would declare Stage 1 drought and activate modest restrictions under its drought-contingency plan.

Commissioners pressed staff on metrics and planning horizons. Commissioner Silverstein asked how many years drought planning covers; Crittendon said planners use historical droughts (the regional record includes an extended mid-20th-century drought and a severe 2011-2015 period) and frame Water Forward as a long-term, 50- to 100-year planning effort that considers climate-change scenarios. He said the utility is pursuing multiple strategies, including conservation, aquifer storage and recovery pilots, emergency indirect potable reuse and expanded reclaimed-water connections.

On aquifer storage, staff said an earlier option in Bastrop and Lee counties (the Carrizo-Wilcox target) has been paused after local outreach, and that engineers are pivoting to candidate sites in the Trinity Aquifer in Travis County. Field testing and small pilot wells are planned; Crittendon estimated the pilot and testing phase could take about a year.

Commissioners also asked about large industrial users and reuse requirements later in the meeting. Staff said the city has existing code and incentives (the Go Purple program) that require or encourage reclaimed-water connections for nonpotable uses when developments are within specified distances (250 feet for smaller, 500 feet for larger projects) or when projects meet size thresholds. "If a data center were to move in today, they would apply for a service extension request. We would evaluate them and say, 'You have a lot of nonpotable need; you can meet that through other sources,'" Crittendon said.

The presentation and the Q&A underscored both near-term supply resilience and the need for continued conservation and long-term supply investments. Staff said additional data and the June/July quarterly reports will include more detail on leak-detection results and the evolving Water Forward strategies.

Next steps: Austin Water will continue piloting aquifer testing, present updated analysis in future quarterly reports, and incorporate drought- and supply-related projects into the department's CIP package that will go to the city manager and council in mid-July.