Lake Levels

We're about halfway through autumn, and we've not had the good rains we sometimes get this time of year. I look forward to such rains to help replenish our lakes, but that just isn't happening this year. As a result, our lake levels are on the decline.

Below is a snapshot from our local paper, the San Angelo Standard Times. On the last page of the first section of the paper, they publish these and other stats daily. I watch them religiously. The first half of the picture shows lake levels of area lakes. San Angelo gets most of its water from Lake O. H. Ivie, which is about 60 miles east of here. It also uses water in some way from Nasworthy, O.C. Fisher, and Twin Buttes, all on the west side of the city. Spence is north of here and does not contribute to San Angelo, and Amistad is on the Rio Grande near Del Rio. It also does not contribute to our local water supply.

When O. H. Ivie's level reaches 20%, I start getting concerned, especially this time of year. The lake level will continue to decline into the spring, for our chances of getting sustained rains now are diminishing until then. If we do not get the good rains in the spring, then the high temperatures and not winds next summer will quickly cause our lake levels to lower. The "Month to date" precipitation above is for the moth of October. No, we did not get much rain at all this past month.

Below is a map showing our lakes. The serpent-shaped lake on the far right is O. H. Ivie. I wrote about this lake in August in "Back Roads Tour: Lake O. H. Ivie". O. H. Ivie is formed by the Colorado River, fed largely by Elm Creek just south of Ballinger, and the Concho River, which comes in from the west.

The lake on the upper-left side of San Angelo is O. C. Fisher, which is part of San Angle State Park. The larger lake to the lower-left of San Angelo is Twin Buttes, while the smaller one just to its right is Nasworthy. O. C. Fisher is formed by the North Concho River, while Twin Buttes is formed by the Middle Concho, Spring Creek, Dove Creek, and the South Concho River. All of these streams come together to form Nasworthy. In fact, water is pumped from Twin Buttes to maintain a steady level in Nasworthy, where boat races and other activities are regularly held. The Middle Concho and South Concho Rivers merge in Nasworthy, and then this combined stream merges with the North Concho just east of downtown San Angelo.

Hopefully, we'll get some good rains this winter or in the spring. If not, we'll be looking at a long, hot summer in 2018.