The Tarrant Regional Water District does not anticipate the need to implement Stage Two restrictions at any point over the summer, said Mark Olson, the conservation and creative manager for the Tarrant Regional Water District.
After the weekend’s downpours, Tarrant County’s combined water supply rests at 76 percent, according to the Tarrant Regional Water District’s website.
“We are not out of the woods as far as the drought goes, but things are improving in a lot areas,” Bob Carl of the National Weather Service said.
The Tarrant Regional Water District issued a Stage Two warning of the Drought Contingency Plan in early January.
Olson said water reservoirs must drop below a 60 percent threshold in order to trigger Stage Two restrictions.
Much of the Dallas-Fort Worth area has received 4 to 6 inches of rain since late April, Carl said. This precipitation has caused significant gains in lakes that supply Tarrant County since April 1.
While most lakes rose several feet, some lakes such as Bridgeport saw little to no gains.
Much like the rainfall in March, most of the precipitation fell in the Eastern side of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The East Texas reservoir Cedar Creek is full. The West Fork reservoirs, Lake Bridgeport and Eagle Mountain Lake, remain 45 percent full according to the Tarrant Regional Water District’s website.
The largest increases were in Eagle Mountain Lake, which rose 2 feet, and Lake Arlington, which rose 1.5 feet, Carl said.