As the relentless heat beats down on Canyon Lake, the Hill Country reservoir continues to shrink, revealing more and more sun-bleached rocks and earth.
The lake was roughly 72.5% full on Thursday, with the mean water level measured at 894.99? above sea level. That’s 14? below the conservation pool level of 904?, which is what most people would refer to as “full.”
It’s also nearly 10? lower than the water level a year ago and a foot-and-a-half below the previous month.
The record low from September 2009, 892.7? above sea level, is now just a little more than two feet away.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages the dam that creates the reservoir. But unless the lake is flooding, the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority dictates how much water is released downstream into the Guadalupe River.
However, USACE Park Ranger Philip Anderson said evaporation is shrinking Canyon Lake more than the water release rate. Compounding the problem, he said the lake will drop faster the farther down the water level goes.
“Just like if you have a puddle on the street,” he said. “The smaller the puddle gets, the faster it evaporates.”
As it stands, most of the 23 boat ramps around the lake have already closed. The news website My Canyon Lake listed just five open ramps as of Wednesday, though Anderson gave KSAT a slightly different list Thursday, including one ramp not listed by My Canyon Lake.
In any case, Anderson said the remaining boat ramps will have “very long waits” as boaters are forced to converge on them.
That wasn’t the case when KSAT visited boat ramp 17 on Thursday afternoon, where Tony Sanchez was backing a boat into the water as another couple towed out a jet ski. Though there were several trucks and empty boat trailers parked at the ramp, there was no line to get in or out.
Sanchez said he uses the boat ramps two to four times a week.
Contrary to Anderson, who said he has not noticed a difference in the number of people visiting the lake, Sanchez said fewer people are coming out to boat on Canyon Lake. So, he said, the wait times have gone down.
However, he warned the ramps can still get busy on the weekend. Boaters can launch within 15 to 30 minutes if they arrive early enough, he said, but there’s a jam when they try to get off the water, typically between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
It may take a “lucky” boater only an hour to get out, he said, but it could take up to two-and-a-half hours.