SPICEWOOD BEACH, Texas – It was a close call for one community Northwest of Austin. Spicewood Beach came close to running out of drinking water.
"Nobody ran out of water and we don't intend for the that to happen," said Clara Tuma, spokeswoman for the Lower Colorado River Authority . "(But) it got within a few days "
The LCRA is still not sure why, but the well level dropped -- dramatically. The usual is about a half-foot every two weeks, but for reasons unknown, it dropped a foot in a week and then over a foot in one night.
The LCRA decided to truck in water -- four to five trucks per day to keep the tank full.
One resident said part of the problem, besides the obvious drought, was that the LCRA was selling off water to contractors. They stopped that practice earlier this month, but he also believes the system has become overloaded over the years.
"Instead of having 150 customers on it, we've got 1,100 customers," said Charles Jones.
The community overlooks Lake Travis, nearly 60 feet low in some spots.
Jones has been living in the neighborhood for 40 years and says he has never seen anything like it.
"(I've) never, never seen it this low," Jones said.
He also has a simple solution to the problem.
"Either drill deeper wells or put new ones in," Jones said.
Those are two options the LCRA is looking into.