LCRA Water Committee forges consensus on critical issues

The Water Management Plan Advisory Committee finished its work Tuesday and reached consensus or near consensus on all the critical issues that will be used to build the next version of the plan.

The advisory committee was put together a year ago to provide input to LCRA on changes to the plan that determines how lakes Travis and Buchanan, the lower Colorado River basin's two water supply reservoirs, are managed. Once the LCRA Board of Directors approves an updated plan, it goes to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for a final decision.

Committee members represent the major and sometimes competing interests that rely on the lakes' water: cities and industry, agriculture, environment and lake area businesses and residents. The plan contains triggers that determine who must reduce water use, and when, in times of drought. The triggers are based on the amount of water stored in lakes Travis and Buchanan, which are considered full at about 2 million acre-feet. An acre-foot of water is equal to almost 326,000 gallons.

"The water of the Highland Lakes is a precious and limited resource that is critical to a wide variety of interests throughout the basin," said LCRA General Manager Becky Motal. "The hard work of these committee members to help LCRA balance those interests so we can meet critical needs throughout the basin, even in severe drought, is invaluable. I'd like to personally thank the members for the role they have played, and will continue to play, on this vital issue."

After a year of often difficult and time-consuming work, the volunteer committee reached agreement on the following changes to the plan with a single dissenting vote on only one of the many elements in the plan:

• Using two trigger points during the year to determine how much stored water from the lakes is available for agriculture. One trigger point, January 1, would be used for the first rice crop and June 1 for the second crop. The current plan contains only a January 1 trigger point.
• Cutting off stored water from the lakes for downstream agriculture anytime the combined storage of lakes Travis and Buchanan is below 600,000 acre-feet. That's triple the level in the current plan.
• Limiting open supply, which is the practice of not restricting stored water from the lakes available for agricultural diversion downstream when the lakes are above a defined trigger point. Water released from the lakes for the downstream agricultural operations would be limited to 273,500 acre-feet per year or 249,000 acre-feet per year depending on the demands of the cities and industries throughout the basin.
• Asking firm water customers, mostly cities and industries, to reduce water use consistent with their drought plans only after Highland Lakes water for agriculture is restricted. Firm customers contract for water that will be available through a repeat of the worst drought in the region's history, the 10-year drought of the 1950s. They pay considerably more than farmers and other "interruptible" customers do for their water.
• Setting the lakes' minimum combined storage level in the new plan at the amount of water needed to supply firm water customers (cities and industry) for one year. This level would be roughly 375,000 to 400,000 acre-feet, which is about double that of the current plan. Combined minimum storage is the low point the water supply in lakes Travis and Buchanan is allowed to reach during the computer simulations that help build the plan for managing the lakes.
• Using the environmental flow criteria developed in studies completed in 2008 and using two trigger points, January 1 and June 1, for determining instream flow releases. 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 support a diverse aquatic environment 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 two different levels in the new plan to set triggers based on the actual demand of firm customers. The current plan is based on a single demand projection looking 10 years in the future. Using two levels is a more sophisticated and adaptive way to look at expected water needs for firm customers. This new approach responds 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 lone dissenting vote came from the member representing the Gulf Coast Irrigation Division and related only to the curtailment procedures used to cut back water to interruptible agricultural customers that would be applied in later years of the plan. He felt the proposed curtailment procedures cut back too much on future Highland Lakes water available for farmers in his division, with significant impacts to the Matagorda County economy.

LCRA will present a report to the Board on the committee's work at the August 24 Board meeting. The report will contain the committee's consensus items as well as items that committee members want considered in future plans. These will include a statement from committee members urging the Board to aggressively pursue new water supply projects and conservation.

Members representing lake area businesses and residents made several suggestions for future planning efforts, including a request that the economic impact of the Highland Lakes on Texas' economy be considered. These members are concerned about the impact of low lake levels on area businesses.

Committee members spent significant time over the past year to forge Tuesday's consensus, often traveling long distances to attend meetings. Members met at least once a month, and sometimes twice, in daylong sessions in addition to attending separate workshops on technical issues. Members also traveled throughout the basin to visit each other to better understand how water from the Highland Lakes is used in different parts of the basin.

"The impact of your work cannot be highlighted enough," Suzanne Zarling, LCRA's Executive Manager of Water Services, told members after Tuesday's meeting. "It has been an extraordinary effort on everybody's part, and it will benefit everybody in this basin."