Despite having several inches of rain fall in Brown County over a week ago, Lake Brownwood has not experienced benefits of the precipitation.
According to the Brown County Water Improvement District, the current level of the lake is 1419.4 feet msl (mean sea level) which is 5.59 feet below normal spillway levels. This is the same level the lake was sitting at on June 30th. Water District officials say that although the county received a good amount of rain, it fell in the wrong place for the lake to catch runoff.
“Rain around us filled up the potholes but there’s been no runoff,” stated Chief Bob Pacatte of the Lake Patrol. “If we could get rain north of the lake like south of the lake has gotten, we could fill up the lake in a weekend.”
It has not rained enough on the watershed to get runoff to drain into the lake according to Pacatte. He also indicated that rain in the area has helped the lake maintain a steady level. Last year at this time, Lake Brownwood was a foot lower than current levels and dropping at a steady pace.