Any rain that falls in the blue area of the map has the potential to run off and make its way to the Canadian River and ultimately Lake Meredith. Anything falling outside of the blue area won't help the lake.
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- With the record rainfall we have had this summer and in the past few days, many of you may be wondering why the water levels at Lake Meredith are still at an all time low.
While we may have had record level rainfalls in Amarillo and in the surrounding areas - that doesn't necessarily mean -- that will benefit Lake Meredith.
And the reason is because it all depends on the area's watersheds -- which is where the run-off of rain travels too.
Officials are resorting to other resources besides relying on Mother Nature to help keep the lake at acceptable water levels.
One way they are combating the dropping levels is by taping into the Ogallala Aquifer.
The lake level is just under 43 feet, and if it drops below 42 feet it poses problems for its pumps and the dam's infrastructure.
"We are developing a new well field and the reduced supply out of the lake will be made up out of this new well field that we'll bring online in the next few days actually and we'll have more wells coming on later this year," said Chad Pernell with CRMWA.
More than $200 million has been invested in water rights and developing well fields.
CRMWA has 27 working wells, and will be adding six more by this week.
Pernell also says that even if we do get rainfall in the lake's watershed area that we also have to factor in evaporation and the water just getting soaked up in the soil.
So the best chance of rainfall benefiting the lake is to have rain occur on top of each other over a short period of time in order to have run off from grounds that are already saturated with water.
