Pumping Of Area Playa Lakes A “Balancing Act”

It’s a balancing act is how the Amarillo officials are describing the pumping down of Playa lakes, following last week’s flooding.

The city’s public works department, says Lawrence Lake and Lake McDonald are above capacity but assures progress is being made.

The Greenways Playa Lake pumps to McDonald Lake, and while some of the pumping isn’t going to speed up the process, but city officials say the trick is not doing too much, too fast.

Lawrence and Bennet Lakes are both at 100 % capacity and if  Amarillo receives more rain, it won’t take much more for these lakes to flood again and impact surrounding roadways.

It’s estimated that about 470 million gallons of water have been removed, and that’s between the city as well as TxDOTS temporary pump at Lawrence Lake,

Amarillo Public Works says they’re looking at alternative options of where the lakes flow, instead of having them pump to one another.