AUSTIN, Texas — Water levels at Lake Travis remain critically low as Central Texas continues dealing with a drought.
Local businesses on and around Lake Travis are also starting to feel some of the effects that come with the drought.
A year ago, Lake Travis was more than 70% full, but today it sits at just 46.4%.
"We're seeing a rapid depletion of the drinking water for Central Texas, and anyone who doesn't believe it needs to go look at the lake," said Jo Karr Tedder, the president of the Central Texas Water Coalition.
In November, Lake Travis inflows sat at roughly 6.8 billion gallons of water, but a typical November sees about 22 billion gallons of inflow. For reference, one acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons of water.
"We are in trouble when the lakes go down. It takes a flood to fill them up. So, our philosophy has always been, 'Why are you releasing so much water out of the lakes,'" said Tedder.
Caleb Belton is a manager at Captain Pete's Boathouse on Lake Travis. He said these water levels were initially shocking.
"It used to be discouraging when you would see it go down inches. Like, if I had two days off a week, I'd come back and it'd be feet down sometimes," said Belton.
A hike down to a restaurant, like Captain Pete's Boathouse on Lake Travis, is the new normal.
However, employees said that used to not be the case. The water levels, when they were up, used to make it more level with the land where people would park.
"Most of our distributors won't actually bring stuff down the hill, so I have to go up and get it ourselves. Some people won't even come out here, so it's already a strain on us," said Belton.
Paul Iannone also helps manage the boathouse and said droughts like these mean they have to physically move ramps that help people get to the restaurant.
"We're about probably 50, 55 feet above. We still have to go. But every time that the lake water goes down, then people have to come out. The marina guys, the dock guys are all shifting the decks," said Iannone.
Through the support of their bosses and the community, they're confident their business will make it. That hasn't been the case for some.
"Carlos' N Charlie's went under. And, then this year, Vincent on the Lake was in the same [building] what was the old Carlos' N Charlie's restaurant. It was great. They had closed by the end of summer. They could not do it," said Tedder.
Drought and population growth are a big concern for water conservation experts. The KVUE Defenders recently looked at the state's water plan.
It shows that, by the year 2030, residential and business demand for water will outpace existing water supplies. A new reservoir is being built southwest of Houston to boost supply. That's set to open in 2024.