Tara Carr manages Lake Austin Marina. While the drawdown was still on the calendar, she was working through the marina's 168 slip-holders to sort out who could keep a boat in the water through a 10-foot drawdown and who could not. Then the plan was reversed. "I was trying to work with all of our 168 occupants over at Lake Austin Marina to coordinate who would have been able to leave their boat in their boat slip and who couldn't leave their boat there," she told FOX 7 Austin.
On September 24, 2026, the City of Austin announced there would be no Lake Austin drawdown in 2026. That reverses the October 12 through November 30 plan we described in our earlier drawdown guide. The reason matters more than the date. The City's own memo shows staff looking for a window that would not collide with something and finding none. Between the fall wedding season, holiday light shows, and the post-Uri limits on winter operations, Lake Austin no longer has an off-season. Water levels used to work around the lake's slow periods. Now the lake's calendar is setting them.
Three Windows, and a Conflict in Each
The City's cancellation memo shows that staff did not simply drop the fall date. They tested every alternative on the table, and each one hit a different problem.
| Window considered | Who proposed it | What it ran into |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 12 to Nov. 30, 2026 | City, at stakeholder request | Fall weddings, UT football, Formula 1 |
| Dec. 1 to Jan. 15 | LCRA, in mid-September | Holiday activities and seasonal business |
| January and February 2027 | Lake Austin stakeholders | LCRA no longer draws down lakes in winter |
The fall window was the first to fail, and the business owners described specific losses. Austin Riverboats captain John Wolters told KVUE the schedule had already led to six wedding cancellations. It also overlapped with the Formula 1 period, which he called one of the company's highest-earning stretches, and he put the value of the lost October and November use in six figures. David Callejas, owner of Float On Boat Rentals, told the Austin American-Statesman that short notice of a closure during a busy season was devastating. He asked for more lead time and a plan for people who make their living on the lake.
The December option moved the problem from weddings to the holidays. Ken Leonard, owner of Mozart's Coffee Roasters, told KVUE that a December-to-January drawdown would have run straight through the café's Festival of Lights. KUT reported that businesses raised the same concern about holiday activities and seasonal operations.
The Winter Gap Closed in 2021
The third option is the one many longtime lake users asked for. Lea Holubec, speaking for the Lake Austin Task Force, told KVUE that a January and February drawdown would disrupt businesses less and matched how drawdowns had been done in the past. Austin resident Jonathan Coon told the station he supported a drawdown but wanted it in January or February, as before.
That window no longer exists. In its August announcement, the City explained that after Winter Storm Uri in 2021, LCRA stopped scheduling winter drawdowns. The goal is to keep the hydroelectric generators at the Highland Lakes dams fully available to the Texas power grid during cold weather, so LCRA now does planned drawdowns in the fall.
The months that were once quiet on Lake Austin are now off-limits for grid reasons. The months still allowed are the busiest of the year on the water. Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers said staff will keep weighing "economic, operational, environmental and community considerations" for future drawdowns, and the City has committed to no new date. Shawn Smith, owner of Austin Rental Boats and Lake Austin Lights, told FOX 7 he hopes future drawdowns come "in a timely matter where we have proper notice."
The Season That Won the Argument
The lake is staying at its normal level, so the events that pushed back on the fall window will go ahead. Here is how the coming weeks line up on and near the water:
- October 23 to 25. The Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, with practice on the 23rd and 24th, qualifying on the 24th, and the race on Sunday the 25th, per Formula 1's official schedule. This is the weekend Wolters pointed to as a top revenue period for charters.
- Through the fall. UT football game days and the wedding season, the two other conflicts the City named. Austin Riverboats runs private charters, including weddings, from the LCRA dock near Tom Miller Dam.
- November 20 to January 3. Lake Austin Lights holiday cruises, about 45 minutes each with a captain, leaving from and returning to Hula Hut. Individual tickets are listed at $34.95 for ages 14 and up and $19.95 for ages 4 to 13. Private boats run $400 to $700 before taxes and fees. The latest departure is planned for 11 p.m.
- November 21 to January 3. The 16th annual Festival of Lights at Mozart's, 3825 Lake Austin Blvd. Synchronized shows start at 6 p.m. and run until 9 or 10 p.m. Early-bird admission is $7 through November 20, then $8 starting opening night.
Under the August plan, the refill was not set to begin until November 24, with normal levels expected by November 30. That would have pushed the opening nights of both light shows right up against a lake still refilling. Smith told FOX 7 the cancellation lets his business keep running through fall and into its holiday events, and that "150 plus jobs amongst the businesses down here" were saved.
The Plant That Keeps Its Own Calendar
Smith did not treat the decision as a win. He said this in the same FOX 7 interview:
"The work's not over. It's not time to celebrate. There's still a major hydrilla issue out on the lake that needs to be addressed."
The numbers back him up. KXAN reported in March 2026 that City surveys found hydrilla on about 592 acres in February 2026, up from just over 450 acres the previous September. The City's Lake Austin page cites a June 2026 Texas Parks and Wildlife survey showing 575 acres of hydrilla and 75 acres of Eurasian watermilfoil. That is a small dip from February and still close to the peak.
A drawdown would not have solved this anyway. In the same KXAN story, Brent Bellinger of Austin Watershed Protection said lowering the lake can dry out plants for a short-term effect but is not a lasting fix. The City's Lake Austin page says herbicides are not allowed on the lake. It describes mechanical removal as useful for clearing small stretches of shoreline but not for lake-wide control, because hydrilla grows fast and regrows from fragments.
That leaves grass carp, and the history here explains why the City is moving slowly. KUT reported that heavy stocking during the early-2010s drought wiped out hydrilla by 2014. The carp then ate the rest of the lake's vegetation, which stayed scarce for nearly a decade. A Watershed Protection memo tied that loss to algae blooms, lost habitat, and a collapse of the fishery. "We don't want to repeat what happened in 2012, 2013," Bellinger told KUT.
The current program is smaller by design. The City released 350 sterile grass carp earlier in 2025, then added 1,955 more in November 2025, according to KXAN. A City memo dated July 20, 2026 said staff expected to run a fall vegetation survey and would likely request another fall stocking based on the results. As of mid-October, no City or Texas Parks and Wildlife announcement has confirmed that stocking or released newer survey numbers.
With winter ruled out for grid reasons and fall now committed to events, a full lake is the conditions this round of carp stocking will play out in. Carr told FOX 7 that worry about hydrilla without a drawdown "says the city needs to maybe communicate more about what those plans are moving forward."
Where This Leaves Dock and Bulkhead Work
The August announcement had encouraged shoreline owners to use the exposed lakebed to repair docks and bulkheads, dredge slips, and clear debris. Austin Development Services was building a special permit application for minor repairs during the drawdown. According to the cancellation memo, the City received multiple permit requests and is now working with each applicant on whether to move forward with the permit or request a refund. FOX 7 summed up the trade-off. The cancellation was a relief to businesses, but the dock repairs still cannot happen.
On Lake Austin, permits for docks and bulkheads come from the City of Austin, not LCRA. Our dock diligence guide explains how that works. Repairs that were waiting on an exposed lakebed this fall have nothing to schedule against, because the City has not set a date for the next drawdown.
If you have a waterfront home on Lake Austin, a dock project on hold, or a sale planned around these dates, Mary Anne McMahon and her team can go over how a lake that stays full shapes your timing and preparation. Schedule a Private Consultation, and we will look at your shoreline plans with you against the real 2026 and 2027 calendar.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.