Water committee hones in on potential methods for managing Highland Lakes

The Water Management Plan Advisory Committee continued to focus on potential scenarios for updating the plan to operate lakes Travis and Buchanan at its daylong meeting Tuesday. The group, which is scheduled to finish its work next month, discussed potential options for how and when to curtail the water released from the Highland Lakes for agriculture and the environment during a drought.

LCRA's staff will take the suggestions and plug them into the technical computer model used to evaluate the proposals. The model will show how the potential changes affect the water supply and the advisory committee will view the results at its next meeting.

Lakes Travis and Buchanan help provide water for 1.1 million people in Central Texas as well as water for farming, industry and the environment. The plan contains triggers that determine who must reduce water use, and when, in times of drought. The triggers are generally based on the combined storage of lakes Travis and Buchanan.

On Tuesday, the advisory committee came to consensus on using the environmental flow criteria developed in studies completed in 2008. The criteria were developed to help meet the environmental needs of the river and Matagorda Bay. These needs involve the amount of flow necessary in the river to provide marine wildlife habitat and the amount of fresh water Matagorda Bay's estuaries need to survive and thrive. The studies the committee is using reflect the latest and best environmental science available.

The committee also came to consensus on interim water demands that will be used in future modeling scenarios. Using interim demands is a more sophisticated way to look at expected water needs for firm customers because it uses two time periods rather than only considering expected needs in 10 years. This new approach could add flexibility to respond to actual growth in water use and could be an important component to help balance some of the diverse interests that depend on the Highland Lakes.

The 16-member advisory committee is tasked with providing input to LCRA on how to improve water management strategies outlined in the plan. Once the LCRA Board of Directors approves an updated plan, it goes to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a final decision.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 24 at the Riverside Conference Center in Bastrop. For more information on the Water Management Plan or the advisory committee please go to www.lcra.org/watermanagementplan.