BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY ADVISES OF SYSTEM-WIDE STAGE 1 DROUGHT PRECAUTIONS

  

The Brazos River Authority (BRA) says a Stage 1 Drought Watch has been declared for the entirety of its reservoir system.

The notice applies to all customers accessing water from lakes Somerville, Possum Kingdom, Granbury, Whitney, Aquila, Limestone, Belton, Stillhouse Hollow, Granger, Georgetown and Proctor.  It also applies to lakeside residential and commercial use water permit holders.

Most BRA contract holders have already been notified of a Stage 1 Drought Watch on an individual level; Lake Somerville was placed under a watch in June.  The system-wide watch is triggered when the combined storage capacity within the BRA system drops to 1,524,177 acre-feet.

Through the drought watch, customers are encouraged to voluntarily reduce their water consumption by 5 percent of what they would normally use without any drought contingency measures in place.

The BRA says it is possible that a System Stage 2 Drought Warning could be issued by this December, should the current drought continue.  Stage 2 is activated when combined storage capacity falls to 1,152,432 acre feet, and would call for a 10 percent reduction in water consumption.

Since all reservoirs have reached trigger levels for drought watch, the BRA asks that everyone keep in mind the extreme drought conditions and conserve water whenever possible.