• David Tewes •
• Originally published July 17, 2009 at 12:13 a.m., updated July 17, 2009 at 12:13 a.m.

• Victoria County and all or part of the surrounding counties are in an exceptional drought, the worst of five categories of the U.S. Drought Monitor.

  The outlook calls for the drought to persist at least into October.

The prolonged drought is putting a strain on lakes in the Crossroads region, causing some to fall to record-low levels.

"You will see things that you haven't seen in a long time," said Charles Reckaway with the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority. "We just need the rain."

But Bryan Serold with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority said he's not optimistic about seeing a break in the drought soon. El Nino, the periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean, is forecast to bring rain, but not until this fall or winter.

"It could be 4 inches of rain or it could be 10 inches of rain," he said. "Who knows?"

Canyon Reservoir on the Guadalupe River north of San Antonio was at 894.87 feet above sea level Thursday. Prior to this year, the record low had been 899.84 feet set in November 1984.

"Every day that the reservoir doesn't get rain or inflow, we're setting a record low," said spokeswoman LaMarriol Smith with the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority.

Flows into Canyon have almost dropped to zero. As alarming as that may sound, Smith said the reservoir was built in response to the record drought of the 1950s.

"It's serving its purpose now," she said. "If it did not exist, this region would be having a more difficult struggle with the water supply."

Lake Texana in Jackson County was at 39.81 feet Thursday. Reckaway said that's up from the record low set earlier this year of 36.10 feet, which beat the previous record of 38.45 feet in February 2000.

The lake recovered after heavy rains that fell in the Moulton, Schulenburg and Weimar area, but it's still unusually low.

"We set up cones at several of the boat ramps telling them to be cautious when they launch," Reckaway said. " Most of the small boats can still launch, but the larger boats have to be careful because the lake is so low."

Coleto Creek Reservoir on the Victoria-Goliad county line was at 94.74 feet Thursday. The record low there is 93.29 feet set in August 1996.

The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority cranked up a diversion pump near Nursery last summer to pump water from the Guadalupe to Coleto. A second pump had to be put into operation on July 1 to make sure the Coleto Creek Power Station has enough water for cooling purposes.

"When you get into a situation where it's so hot and dry and you have high winds, basically you're just keeping up with evaporation rates," Serold said. "We're losing maybe .01 to .02 of a foot of lake level each day."

The drop in the lake level has exposed tree stumps that aren't ordinarily visible, but most are out of the main boating channels of the reservoir, he said.

Boaters are still able to use the boat ramp at the park, he said.

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