SAN ANTONIO -- A once flourishing lake has been reduced to a large pond.
Waterskiing, kayaking, fishing and even scuba diving are just some of what this once-thriving lake offered. With 110 miles of shoreline, Medina Lake was an extraordinarily deep lake with an average depth of more than 80 feet.
But today, that s only a memory.
Medina Lake sits at a current level of 2.8% full. And the effects are being seen and felt all along this 18-mile lake.
While a 4-year drought has taken most of the toll, business owners on the lake feel better conservation plans could ve been in place to avoid such a catastrophic drop in lake level.
Steve and Rox Bonahoom own the Bedrock Resort, which sits right on the Medina Dam. When we bought this property in 1996, the lake was 52 feet down. We can live and sustain that. If they would ve stopped and been conservative, we ve have a nice Canyon Lake here. Constantly draining the lake and now we have nothing more than a pond of water, Steve Bonahoom said.
The they Bonahoom speaks of is the Bexar Medina Atascosa Counties Water Control and Improvement District, known short as the BMA. They manage Medina Lake.
Ed Berger is with the BMA and he claims we cannot manage a drought. We stopped taking water out of Medina in 2012. And the math is there to show that the amount we ve taken out is a very manageable release. Water is a renewable economic resource, Berger said.
Medina Lake has been this low before and seen a return.
Residents as well as business owners agree that the rain will come and Medina Lake will again thrive as an area destination.
