Water Advisory Committee nearing the end of its work

Several members of the Water Management Plan Advisory Committee said Tuesday that they felt like they were on the verge of finding an approach they could live with on the curtailment triggers that will be used to determine how water is allocated from lakes Travis and Buchanan during a drought.

The comments came at the end of a long day where members spent hours looking at and discussing the results from computer simulations that will be used to update the plan. The 16-member advisory committee is tasked with providing input to LCRA on how to improve water management strategies outlined in the plan for managing the lower Colorado River basin's two water supply reservoirs. Once the LCRA Board of Directors approves an updated plan, it goes to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a final decision.

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.

The committee is nearing the end of its year-long effort. The committee's next meeting is June 8 at the Dalchau Service Center. Before that meeting, LCRA will send committee members the results of new computer simulations. The results will be presented in multiple formats to help highlight the impact on the different parties interested in the Water Management Plan. At the June 8 meeting, committee members will be asked to identify scenarios they are willing to accept in an effort to come to consensus on what the updated plan should include. Committee members will give a status report to LCRA's Board of Directors on June 14, before the committee holds its final scheduled meeting on June 22 at the Dalchau Service Center.

To date, the committee has come to consensus on:

• Using two trigger points during the year to determine if there is interruptible stored water available for agriculture. One trigger point would be used for the first season of rice and one for the second crop. The current plan contains only one trigger point.
• Capping or eliminating open supply, which is the practice of not limiting interruptible stored water available for agriculture when the lakes are above a certain combined storage level.
• Asking firm water customers, mostly cities and industries, to reduce water use consistent with their drought plans only after Highland Lakes water for agricultural is restricted.
• Setting the lakes' minimum combined storage levels at the amount of water needed to supply firm water customers for one year. However, committee members are still discussing how much water constitutes a year's supply for firm customers.
• 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 aquatic and wildlife habitat and the amount of fresh water Matagorda Bay's estuaries need to survive and thrive. These studies reflect the latest and best environmental science available.
• Using interim water demands in modeling scenarios. Using interim demands is a more sophisticated way to look at expected water needs for firm customers because it uses a more adaptive approach 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.