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Hi everyone,

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and welcome to the Texas Water Development
Board's latest Water and Weather report.

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I'm Dr.

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Mark Wentzel, a hydrologist in the Surface
Water Division here at the agency.

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And today,
we'll be taking a look at conditions

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for our state at the end of April
and some of the reservoir data available

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on the Board’s
Water Data for Texas website.

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Let's take a look at some of the big water
and weather headlines.

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Statewide, April was wetter
and warmer than normal, a welcome break

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from the previous eight months, which were
all drier and warmer than normal.

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Near the end of April, 75
percent of the state was in drought,

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down 14 percentage points
since the end of March.

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At the end of April, storage
in our water supply reservoirs was 74.7

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percent of capacity, up more than
a percentage point from the end of March,

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but still nearly nine percentage points
below normal for this time of year.

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Modest declines in drought area
are expected to continue at least

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through the end of July.

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Let's take a closer look at the reservoir
data available on the Board’s Water Data

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for Texas website,

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and how that data gets rolled up into one
number, statewide water supply

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storage, also called conservation storage
as a percentage of total capacity.

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If you go to the link
provided at the top of the screen,

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you'll land on this web page.

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Note the tabs across the top.

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There's a lot of data to explore here.

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We're only going to touch on reservoir
data today.

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Also at the top of the page
is one statewide number.

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As I'm recording this episode,
the monitored water supply reservoir

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storage across
Texas is at 75 percent of capacity.

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How did we derive this number?

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It all begins with data
from individual reservoirs.

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On the map, you can see a representation
of data for the 120 individual

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water supply reservoirs
monitored across the state.

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These 120 reservoirs account for 31.5
million acre-feet of water

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supply—more than 96 percent of the total
water supply storage in the state.

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Where is the other 4 percent?

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In small lakes

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that do not post their data on the web,
where it can be quickly retrieved.

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At the bottom of the page,

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there's a table that includes recent
conditions from individual reservoirs.

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They're listed by name
in the left-hand column,

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with the most recent data for each
reservoir in the columns to the right.

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Note the second column from the left,
which shows the type of reservoir.

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Water supply reservoirs
like Abilene, at the top of this list,

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have a dark blue wedge of water
to the right of the dam icon.

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Their data is counted in the statewide
water supply percentage.

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Flood control reservoirs like Addicks,
second on the list,

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have a light blue
wedge to the right of the dam icon.

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Their data is not counted
in the statewide water supply percentage.

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Why not? Flood storage is only temporary.

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Lake owners do not have a state water
right

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to divert this water for water supply.

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This water can only be discharged
into the channel downstream

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as the danger of flooding recedes.

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Many reservoirs like Amistad,
fourth on the list, have both a portion

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of the reservoir dedicated to water
supply, sometimes called the conservation

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pool, and a portion dedicated to flood
control, known as the flood pool.

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These lakes have both a dark blue
and light blue volume of water

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to the right of the dam icon.

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For these reservoirs, only data
related to the water supply portion

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of the reservoirs contributes
to the statewide water supply percentage.

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Note also that Lake Amistad,
like several other reservoirs,

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is on the border of Texas.

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The water supply
portion of these lakes are shared with one

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or more of our neighbors, either Mexico
or a neighboring state or states.

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For these shared lakes,
only data related to the Texas

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share is used
in the calculation of statewide supply.

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The individual reservoir data

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can be rolled up into many different
groupings,

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as shown on the tabs on the second
from the top row at the top of the page,

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including statewide
or across an individual water planning

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area, river basin,
municipal area, or climate region.

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All the percentages provided
for each of these groupings

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is based on the total water
supply capacity over that entire grouping.

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So when you see that statewide water
supply storage is 75 percent, that doesn't

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mean that a large number of lakes in Texas
are 75 percent full.

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It means that the monitored water supply

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lakes statewide have a combined storage
of 75 percent of the statewide

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monitored capacity,
or a volume of about 23.6 million

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acre feet, out of a capacity of 31.5
million acre feet.

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To see the condition of reservoirs
in your local area

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go to the page for your municipal area,
river basin,

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planning area, climate region
or individual reservoir.

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That concludes our report.

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Until next time,
I hope you all stay healthy and safe

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and receive some beneficial inflows
to your local reservoir.