How long for the lakes to be closed? (Austin, Mansfield: calculation, estimate)

[woodinvilleguy]

Asking old time Austinites. When the lakes have been closed in the past, have they ever been? How long were they closed to recreation?

[Trainwreck20]

They will have them opened up as quick as they can, although maybe not Travis by this weekend. Buchanan reduced its release rate and will continue to reduce the releases as the in-flows decline (Buchanan is not over-full, so no need to get it lower) The lakes between Buchanan and Travis will likely open up pretty soon (maybe this weekend) since they are closed due to the high thru-flow, not high levels.

Travis will need to be reduced in level, but I am not sure what level opens it again. It was not closed until it was well over 690, so they may just drop it a couple of feet and open it back up again.

Lake level forecast (Forecast is subject to change as conditions develop): Lake Travis is expected to begin declining very slowly on June 8, and fall to about 691 to 692 feet above msl by June 9.

[centralaustinite]

Originally Posted by woodinvilleguy

Asking old time Austinites. When the lakes have been closed in the past, have they ever been? How long were they closed to recreation?

Others will have to speak to Lake Travis and the Highland lakes. Ladybird Lake (Town Lake) closes after heavy storms fairly regularly, I remember several closures in 2007 and 2011 but most were for 1-2 days. There was no Pumpkin Head regatta this year due to the storms at Halloween.

I expect Town Lake to stay closed for as long as the flow is so fast, so until LCRA starts to close some floodgates. This is the longest I have known Town Lake to be closed.

From what I have heard Travis is closed mainly due to debris in the water and the potential property damage from wakes.

I still can't believe there are three gates open on Buchanan!

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

I still can't believe there are three gates open on Buchanan!

It is down to two gates now. It was at 4 gates over the weekend.

[cBach]

The lake needs to decline about 5 feet.

The gates are preventing the lake from getting higher. Estimate 1 foot of decline per week in sunny weather. So about 5 weeks with the gates open and sunny weather.

If it rains again, redo the calculations again with the new level. So, if the rain raises the level a foot, that will delay it another week. Rough estimate.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

From what I have heard Travis is closed mainly due to debris in the water and the potential property damage from wakes.

and submerged hazards due to the expanded pool. The debris is actually minimal based on our view (from the marina, ofc). The early flooding has washed out almost all the debris from the tributaries long ago and the bulk of the water in the lake now is from Buchanan dam, which is essentially debris-free. The lake should be in pretty good shape as soon as it is low enough (whatever that level is).

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by cBach

The lake needs to decline about 5 feet.

The gates are preventing the lake from getting higher. Estimate 1 foot of decline per week in sunny weather. So about 5 weeks with the gates open and sunny weather.

If it rains again, redo the calculations again with the new level. So, if the rain raises the level a foot, that will delay it another week. Rough estimate.

I don't think they will wait for it to go down 5 feet - the lake was still open at 691'. I suppose they will wait for it to drop a bit below 691 before opening it, but there is a real financial loss for businesses around the lake when they close it, so I think they will open it as soon as they can.

How fast Travis goes down depends on how long they let Town Lake flood - right now, there is ~25,000 cfs being released out of Mansfield dam, which is obviously more than the hike-n-bike trail can handle. The inflow to Travis is dropping rapidly - currently maybe 12-15,000 cfs? And that should fall by at leat 5,000 cfs over the next few days.

The lake is about 20,000 acres (or a little more) at this elevated level. If they DON'T close/reduce the gates, then Travis could fall by about a foot over the next 24-36 hours.

As a reference, the lake has fallen ~1.5 inches over the last 24 hours, but the current flow from Buchanan is now 6,000 cfs less than the average over that flow period. Until they close some gates, that rate will increase.

[watertank]

I sure wouldn't be in a rush to get into the water. My wife and I took a bike ride down to Graveyard Point Rd last night. Horrible sewer smell coming from the water at the end before it went under water. I'm sure this has been the case in many of these low lying locations throughout the basin.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by watertank

I sure wouldn't be in a rush to get into the water. My wife and I took a bike ride down to Graveyard Point Rd last night. Horrible sewer smell coming from the water at the end before it went under water. I'm sure this has been the case in many of these low lying locations throughout the basin.

Graveyard Point is fairly unique in that it is affected by water at this level. Almost all the other communities along the lake are higher up the flood plain.

[Trainwreck20]

Woot!

Lake reopenings: Lake Travis, Lake Marble Falls, Inks Lake and Lake LBJ will reopen to recreational boating at noon on Friday, June 10.