We got 2 inches of rain, which was great. Rick checked Lake Travis yesterday morning - we are 3 feet from full, yay, yippee, yahooooo!! It is still almost unbelievable for Rick and me to look at the lake and see water where we used to just see dry land. We asked someone once how long it would take to fill the lake back up and they said not long, it just needs to rain a lot above the lake so the rain flows down. Last Spring we got a lot of rain, and voila! The lake filled. This drought lasted 5 years and dropped the lake 60 or so feet, but the drought wasn't the only factor for lack of water in the lake. The powers that be had also been letting out too much water, according to law, I guess. The law was changed and so sources we have read didn't think we could have another problem with lake levels.
Lake Austin is a constant level lake; because of the money on the lake (meaning houses and recreational usage), they will never let it drop below certain levels.
But both lakes are actually damned areas on the Colorado River. All of Texas has only one natural lake, the rest are man-made. Lake Travis is 63.75 miles long and its maximum width is 4.5 miles. It's a big lake. It's highest level was in 1951 and its lowest was in 1991. It was created in 1937-1941 by building Mansfield Dam. I couldn't discover exactly why the lake was created, whether for recreation or electricity, but it does have 3 turbines for a total electrical generating capacity of 93,000 kw. Don't know if that's a little or a lot, but it is the extent of my interest and probably more than anyone reading this cares about.
We have the jet ski (personal watercraft!) and kayaks and small sailboat, so with Rick's hip fixed, ready to water. Bring on summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment