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Restrictions likely remain despite rain
By Chris Roark, croark@acnpapers.com
One trip to Grapevine Lake is all it takes to see how beneficial this past week’s rain was.
Between Tuesday and Thursday, the lake level increased by 5.65 feet to become 100 percent full. That was thanks to a much-needed downpour -- about 4.9 inches of rain fell in Flower Mound.
But for those thinking it was enough to call off the watering restrictions, officials say not so fast.
Flower Mound is in Stage 1 water restrictions, which means no watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Residents are also asked to voluntarily water outdoors on three certain days of the week if they live in odd-numbered addresses or three certain days if they live in even-numbered addresses.
But different cities have different requirements for Stage 1 restrictions.
Lewisville is in Stage 1, which means the city recommends all outdoor watering on trash collection days. Dallas has an odd-even system, but it is mandatory.
“Even if it keeps raining and all the lakes are filled up, they probably won’t back off the restrictions until they’re convinced we won’t be in a drought,” Parr said. “Some are saying that the drought will continue until June or until the end of the summer.”
Lewisville Lake went up 3.52 feet through Friday as a result of the rain.
“That’s significant,” said Carol Bassinger, Lewisville’s director of public services. “Last summer we headed into it with reasonably high lake levels. Last summer was the driest one year on record. This rain will take us into the summer in a much better position. Our focus is not just on keeping lake levels up, but long term is having a water supply for the entire region. If we don’t start looking long term, eventually we won’t have enough water if we don’t start conserving.”
Not only is the drought a consideration, but so is a shrinking water supply at the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD).
The district, which provides Plano, Frisco, McKinney and a handful of other cities with water, has been facing a severe water shortage and is currently under Stage 3 water restrictions. The recent rains resulted in Lake Lavon increasing from 53 percent full to 70 percent full, while Lake Jim Chapman, another lake the district draws water from, rose 2.6 feet and increased from 35 percent to 43 percent of capacity. Lavon is currently 7 feet low, while Jim Chapman is 8 feet below its conservation pool.
A strain of zebra mussels found in Lake Texoma has been a big factor in the shortfall. Zebra mussels are invasive bivalves that live in water pipes and can clog the flow of water and cause damage to pumping equipment.
Because of that, Lavon’s supply from Texoma has been reduced, decreasing Lavon’s water supply by about 25 percent. Because of NTMWD’s efforts to buy water from other suppliers, the situation has had a trickle effect to other municipalities.
The storm system sprang up when two storms merged, one from the Pacific coast of Mexico and one from the Pacific Northwest. Even as North America goes through a La Niña weather pattern, which results in warmer, drier winters, heavy storms such as the ones that came through on Tuesday and Wednesday are not unheard of, said Eric Martello, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office.
“La Niña is a very long-term, planetary weather pattern,” he said. “Over months and months and months, the area will be drier on average. You still get heavy rain, just not as frequently as you would get if we were experiencing an El Niño.”
Martello said the recent rainfalls resulted in lakes gaining some much needed volume. He said the lakes will continue to rise for several days after the rain stops because the ground is cold and hard, resulting in less water being absorbed by the soil.
Staff writers Bill Conrad and Heather Goodwin contributed to this story
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