After more than 24 months of drought restrictions, the Brazos River Authority has rescinded all drought conditions for Lake Proctor. Rainfall in the Upper Leon River Watershed has resulted in significant improvements to the water supply stored in the reservoir, with the lake’s elevation now over three feet above the Stage 1 - Drought Watch trigger of 1158.2 feet above mean sea level (ft-msl).
Lake Proctor is the surface water supply for several wholesale water providers, including the Upper Leon River Municipal Water District, the North Leon River Irrigation Corporation, the Lake Proctor Irrigation Authority, Area 1 Water Company, LLC, and several other agricultural users.
The state requires the BRA to plan and implement a Drought Contingency Plan (DCP). This plan outlines steps to extend the supply and availability of water during times of drought. The Drought Contingency Plan includes four stages. Each stage is marked by trigger points measured by a lake level or water storage capacity. The Drought Contingency Plan also includes triggers associated with how wet or dry it is, according to the Palmer Hydrologic Drought Index. The complete Drought Contingency Plan may be found at www.Brazos.org/ Drought Lake Proctor has been under some form of drought restriction since March 2022, when a Stage 1 Drought Watch Condition was issued by the Brazos River Authority. Under the terms of the DCP, customers and the public are made aware of potential drought problems and a request for a recommended or voluntary 5% reduction in water use that would have occurred in the absence of any drought contingency measures was made.
The reservoir reached the Stage 2 trigger level or Drought Warning Condition Aug. 2, 2022, requiring a 10 percent reduction in water use that would have occurred in the absence of any drought contingency measures.
Without substantial rainfall, lake levels continued to decline. A Stage 3 – Drought Emergency was declared in October 2022 with a mandatory 20% reduction in water supply use. And, on Aug. 16, 2023, a Stage 4- Drought Pro Rata Curtailment was issued for the customers receiving water from Lake Proctor. The declaration required a reduction in water consumption of 30 percent of the amounts that would have occurred in the absence of any drought contingency measures.
Rainfall began to return to the Little River Watershed, generating runoff during the last week of May 2024 that caused Lake Proctor to rise to an elevation of 1,160 ft-msl or two feet below the reservoir’s full pool elevation. On June 12, the streamflow moving into the reservoir allowed drought restrictions for Lake Proctor to be downgraded from Stage 4 - Pro Rate Curtailment with a mandatory 30% to Stage 1 – Drought Watch with a voluntary 5% reduction in water use.
Finally, on Sept. 5, streamflow from rain events upstream brought the lake level to over 1161 ft-msl, more than three feet above the Stage 1 trigger level and less than one foot from its full pool elevation, effectively removing Lake Proctor from all drought restrictions.
Though drought designations have been removed, the Brazos River Authority encourages everyone to use water wisely and always employ water conservation measures.