Lake Meredith

Is going dry: it has received almost no inflows because of a drought over the past seven years, and is about to fall below the level of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority's intake points. CRMWA has decided not to ration the water taken out of the lake, and not it faces decisions on how much to pay for mobile pumps to extend its reach as the lake level flows. The Authority has invested heavily in rights to aquifer water to supplement, and eventually replace the lake, but the well fields there aren't yet at full production.

Cities will continue draining the Panhandle's drought-wracked reservoir rather than cut drinking supplies for Lubbock and other customers, regional water directors voted Wednesday.

Directors of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority voted to draw down the dwindling Lake Meredith using trailer-mounted pumps that could fetch water long after the shoreline falls out of the reach of the authority's water system.

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The pumps are the latest investment in a costly fight against drought conditions. Directors in 2002 began tapping groundwater fields originally drilled to improve the taste of the briny lake water. They dramatically expanded the authority's rights to the aquifer under Roberts County as water levels fell, spending a projected $76 million to secure access. Lubbock has drawn two-thirds of the water spilled from customer taps so far this year from under that Panhandle ranchland.

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Levelland director Carl Shamburger asked whether cities should simply limit the pumping from Meredith rather than spending money on new equipment.

Amarillo and Lubbock representatives said to stop pumping would simply cede the water to evaporation.

"If we could stop the evaporation and then conserve it out, that would be ideal, but we all know, as staff has reported, we cannot stop the evaporation," Lubbock Deputy City Manager Tom Adams said. "Politically, I don't think it would be acceptable to be cutting off our citizens from water knowing it's just up here evaporating."