Lake Austin battles hydrilla invasion

AUSTIN, Texas - A prominent Austin real estate is sounding an alarm about what is growing in Lake Austin.

He said a new study showed hydrilla has increased and an Austin resident wants the city to be more aggressive in clearing out the invasive plant.

Hydrilla problem in Lake Austin

The backstory:

On the surface, Lake Austin looks great, but just below the surface is a growing problem, hydrilla. 

Wesley Aubin, who was out fishing Monday morning, said the aquatic plant has been a problem for some time.

"But never this bad," said Aubin.

Hot spots, for the invasive aquatic plants, are easy to find, according to Aubin.

"So, it's just been out of control up in the shallows, like up and down the bank along the entire lake, like over towards Westwood Country Club down the ways. It goes out like 30 yards into the water, just a full mat of hydrilla on the surface and growing up from the bottom, too," said Aubin.

The hydrilla problem in Lake Austin was also noted in a recent social media post by Austin real estate broker Eric Moreland.

"It's a safety issue, it's a water quality issue, and it's protecting our ecosystem, and we need the city to act," said Moreland in a TikTok post. 

Moreland commissioned a hydrilla study. He claims the study determined that 38% of Lake Austin is infested with hydrilla.

"What we're asking for is for the city to grant a drawdown request for Lake Austin for the first time in nine years for this next January. And this fall, we worked with the city, Parks and Wildlife, and LCRA on a management program for restocking of sterile grass carp, coupled with the drawdown, to really get after this hydrilla problem by early next spring," said Moreland.

Dig deeper:

The water that flows through Lake Austin is controlled by LCRA, but the lake is managed by the City of Austin. 

A spokesperson for LCRA said the agency does manage hydrilla in Lakes Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls and Travis. That work typically involves treatment when hydrilla threatens to interfere with LCRA operations at dams or power plants.

Officials with Austin Watershed Protection acknowledged that hydrilla is high in the lake. In saying that, Andrew Clamann with Austin Watershed Protection said a drawdown is not being requested.

"We think that it is not as, the extent is not much as the survey shows, but different surveys can lead to different conclusions. The important thing is that we're going to base our decisions based on data that is relevant for the past 25 years," said Clamann.

Data from the last time Lake Austin was lowered, according to Clamann, indicated it was not effective in controlling hydrilla on a lake-wide scale. But in July, 400 hydrilla-eating carp were released into the lake.

Obviously, when you just put fish in, it's going to take them a while. They start out small, they eat voraciously. They're like teenagers. So, they eat veraciously for the first few years and they kind of slow down as they get older," said Clamann.

More carp may be added after a state survey is done next spring. As for now, the fall die-back has started, according to Clamann.

"So it's very important that we don't overreact. In the past, sometimes when too many carp were put in, you can really devastate the ecosystem. So, we don't want to be knee-jerk reactions and try to hit anything too hard," said Clamann.

What's next:

Lowering Lake Austin sometime next year is not totally out of the question. But FOX 7 was told doing so would only be for debris removal and to help property owners make dock repairs. 

The only section of the highland lakes chain scheduled this fall for a drawdown is Inks Lake. Officials with LCRA say that’s being done for shoreline maintenance and dock repair. It starts October 1, with the refilling beginning in late November.