Posted: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:56 AM - 6,750 Readers

By: Noelle Newton

The rains are making a big difference at Lake Travis where the water is level was rising quickly Thursday. The Lower Colorado River Authority reports that Lake Travis will rise by 12 feet by the time all the runoff flows into the lake.

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To put it into perspective, the City of Austin typically uses 150,000 acre-feet of water per year. The storm brought in 124,000.

The scenery drew a crowd of onlookers.

"It's nice to see it like this," said Don Page, a lake regular who has been documenting the sinking lake level since the summer. "I think we've probably got a couple thousand pictures out here."

With an extra 7 feet of water -- and climbing -- there is noticeably less beach showing. As of 7 a.m. Thursday, one side of the public boat ramp at Mansfield Dam was closed. In fact, the entire ramp was out of the water. It is now fully operational.

Even if the lake rises to the projected 644 feet this weekend, it will be 22 feet short of the monthly average. That means water restrictions will continue.

"We're going to wait a while and see if things are going to significantly turn around, see if levels get higher than that before we would ask our customers to discontinue their drought management," said Mark Jordan, LCRA river management manager.

Still, the gradual change is being celebrated.

"As soon as it started raining good we knew next time we go out here it will be nice. Hopefully it will keep coming. On days like this we'll be here," said Darnell Dail.

Lake Buchanan only rose one foot. Together, both lakes are at 898 feet. When full, the total is around 2 million feet.

*  Story Contributed by: Noelle Newton