Lake Travis impact from recent rain (Austin, West: versus, car, money)

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Localny

What lakes does this measure, it doesn't seem to be Lake Travis, unless I am missing something.. LT seems to be in the mid 60 percent full. This graphic says it's closer to mid 80's percent full.

LCRA says it is ~77% full, which seems to jibe with the link. The combined storage of Buchanan ( 49%) and Travis (77%) is only ~65%, though. Note that Travis holds about 30% more than Buchanan when both are full (despite the larger surface area of Buchanan).

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by pop251808

Good assumption. Our household of two uses 1600-2000 gals. a month (and yes, we shower every day and have a little St. Augustine left out front) while my spouse's co-worker lives in River Place, complains constantly about "how unfair CoA is," and uses 23,000 gallons for a household of two.

I'm leaving everybody alone. If you're feeling a bit guilty about the amount of water you use, though, so much the better. If you're not, you might be part of the problem. It can be a long hot spell between cooling, life giving rains in Texas. Short memories aren't our friend on this.

You arent leaving people alone, you are giving people a hard time for asking if the restrictions will be lifted so they can use more water. You arent doing everything you can do to save water, you should focus on that first instead of disparaging people who are asking questions about when the restrictions will be lifted.

I feel no guilt about the water "used" because water is never actually used, it just cycles.

And yes I only flush solids and turn off the shower when I lather up, but dont use my shower water as grey water.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

In the non-watering months, we use about 2,500 gallons (on average) for a family of four; however, August and September can be brutal for grass and we can use 18,000 to 20,000 gallons each for those two months in bad years, and that is basically just keeping the yard alive. On good years, it can easily be 10,000 lower for those two months. It all depends on the rain and temperature. We are also slowly converting areas of the yard and our 'new' trees are now not so new and adding lots of shade, so I think we will not see our historic peaks in water use again.

Really? We do water our lawn (we have one, it's about an acre-acre and a half, not the entire 55 acres!) and the only time it's gone above 10,000 was when we had a leak in the buried line in the front pasture that took a couple of months to find. Then it went WAY above 10,000.

What kind of grass do you have?

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

What kind of grass do you have?

St. Augustine, ofc :P. Can't remember which summer it was that we got water use that high, it was a few years back when it was 105 every day, it seemed. Part of the problem is/was watering restrictions, oddly enough. Whereas we would water every 5 or 6 days normally, the restrictions pretty much 'force' you to water every three or four days, because the grass won't make a full week w/o water if you skip a day. Also, if you think it might rain in a day or two and might normally skip watering, you can't, because if the rain doesn't come then your lawn is screwed. We also have a corner lot that has a bit more area to deal with than a 'normal' lot, but in any case, it seems to be in-line with what St. Augustine is expected to need.

[Rakin]

Can you imagine the damage to Austin if the Chain of lakes did not exist ?

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Can you imagine the damage to Austin if the Chain of lakes did not exist ?

Well, Austin as we now know it would NOT be located along a river bank like that and would be much higher up from the river.

[Gorfml]

On the little more than 1/2 acre of st Augustine we water it takes about 40-60k of water a month to keep it alive when it's 100+ with no rain...

Our hoa justified raising our rates last summer becuz of the low lake... Not expecting the nitwits to lower it back any time soon... It's all a big money grab...

[pop251808]

Originally Posted by Austin97

You arent leaving people alone, you are giving people a hard time for asking if the restrictions will be lifted so they can use more water. You arent doing everything you can do to save water, you should focus on that first instead of disparaging people who are asking questions about when the restrictions will be lifted.

I feel no guilt about the water "used" because water is never actually used, it just cycles.

And yes I only flush solids and turn off the shower when I lather up, but dont use my shower water as grey water.

I didn't give anyone a hard time; I questioned the need to forget our recent past, complain about water rates (which most experts will say are way too low) and to resume water use that (probably) can no longer be supported given our population growth, failure to resolve the issue vis-a-vis long term contracts held by "rice farmers," and apparent climate change.
20,000 gallons for a lawn is unconscionable, and yes: "if it's yellow, let it mellow."

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

On the little more than 1/2 acre of st Augustine we water it takes about 40-60k of water a month to keep it alive when it's 100+ with no rain...

Our hoa justified raising our rates last summer becuz of the low lake... Not expecting the nitwits to lower it back any time soon... It's all a big money grab...

It's a big money grab for you to use 50,000 gallons a month to water your grass?

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

It's a big money grab for you to use 50,000 gallons a month to water your grass?

I believe it's no longer legal for HOA's to require you to have a San Augustine lawn (which is the only kind of lawn I can imagine that might require half that much water to stay alive). I'd recommend you switch to a type of lawn more suited to the climate in which you live - there are several.

We have a small patch of San Augustine (it was here when we moved out to the farm) that is under a pecan tree and thus gets sufficient shade to remain lush on the amount of watering we give it (the same as the rest of the lawn) even during the recent drought. The rest of the place is NOT San Augustine because it would be unconscionable to use the amount of water that would be required to keep it looking lush.

Remember, lawns in Austin in the summer can very likely be yellowish-brown (and green will get eyes raised at you - brown is the new green!) and still be quite alive, just dormant.