Lake levels at Meredith have hit a record low, according to the NWS.
/ National Weather Service - Amarillo, Texas
FRITCH, TEXAS -- Lake Meredith, for some a place once filled with memories but now it's filled with not much water as the drought in our area continues.
The water levels at Lake Meredith, according to the National Weather Service in Amarillo, hit record low depth readings on Tuesday. The reading of the lake level was 28.94 feet.
"Since '99 actually the lake's been dropping steadily it was over 96 feet in '99," Kent Satterwhite, General Manager of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority (CRMWA) said "We've had just a horrible decade and plus some. The levels are at 28.93, setting a new record every day." |
28.93 feet is a far cry from the record high water depth of 101 feet that was set back in 1973.
CRMWA has been trying different projects in hopes that the water drop will slow down from regulating how much a city may have, on a case by case basis based on demand, to spraying the non-native salt cedar trees, which use a substantial amount of water.
Lake Meredith supplies water to towns as far north as Borger and as far south as Lamesa, and to all the towns and cities in between.
The Lake previously supplied water to more towns.
"We're supplying half of about what we need in the summer time, from the Ground Water Project," Satterwhite said.
The Ground Water Project was started back in 2001 to improve the water quality, but the project is becoming increasingly important to supply additional water as the levels continue to decline.
What Lake Meredith really needs is Mother Nature on her side, Satterwhite said.
"Well we just need rainfall of high intensity in the right locations," he said. "We've done everything we know to do in this point in time."
As the depth of the water continues to decline so does the level of activity on the lake, hurting the economy of the lake's community.
"I'm sitting here looking out the window now," Satterwhite said. "I don't see any boats or trailers, there is only one dock open and yes, the recreation has just gone down the tubes with the dropping lake level."
