Guadalupe River near critical level
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The Guadalupe River nearly reached the critical level this week that would force Victoria to stop pumping water under its main water permit.
The river had recovered slightly by mid-week, but one water official said he's still concerned the city will have to quit drawing river water.
"I think it's probably going to happen sometime this summer," said Jerry James, Victoria's director of Environmental Services. "What we will do then is move into those other alternative water supply sources we have."
Victoria's main permit allows it to pump up to 20,000 acre-feet of water per year and the city uses half that much in a typical year. But when the river drops too low, the city must stop pumping water under that permit.
Victoria has additional, smaller water rights it has purchased to allow it to continue pumping water longer in a drought. It also has water stored in gravel pits and water wells as backups.
The flow in the river dropped to 278 cubic feet per second at noon Tuesday. The city's permit requires it to stop pumping if the level drops below 250 cubic feet per second for a day.
The flow had risen to just above 400 cubic feet per second Wednesday morning, but was dropping again.
"Certainly, we're keeping a very close eye on it," said Lynn Short, Victoria's public works director. "Sure, I'm concerned about it, as I always am during the summer, but I'm not in alarm mode."
If the river drops too low, the city would have to quit taking water under the primary permit until the river rises above the critical level for 14 consecutive days. That has only happened once.
Residents would be asked to voluntarily conserve water, but there would be no mandatory restrictions.
Short said it's difficult to say what the future holds for river flows, because they are dependent on rainfall. Odds are better than even the Guadalupe will drop below the critical level if no significant rain falls this summer, he said.
The National Weather Service long-range outlook for the summer is calling for equal chances of above-normal, below-normal and normal precipitation.
