Posted: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 09:58 AM - 14,651 Readers

By: Community Impact

The Highland Lakes water supply is unlikely to be replenished this summer because of ongoing drought conditions, officials from the Lower Colorado River Authority announced June 24.

LCRA General Manager Becky Motal said the amount of new water flowing into lakes Travis and Buchanan so far this year is on pace with record lows in 2011, and the extended forecast predicts more hot and dry conditions. Consequently, LCRA estimates that on or around Sept. 1, Lake Travis risks dropping to its lowest water levels ever, resulting in automatic mandatory 20 percent water use curtailment from all LCRA customers.

“I have often said a drought is a natural disaster in slow motion,” Motal said. “We can’t predict when it will end, but we can assure you we will have another flood.”

Part of the problem this year has been the lack of rain within the Colorado River basin despite some significant storms that have hit Central Texas. Ryan Rowney, LCRA’s manager of water operations, said rain ideally needs to fall north of Lake Buchanan, west of Lake Travis or immediately along the 10,000 square miles of land along the river basin.

“Nature started this drought, and as Becky [Motal] said, nature will end this drought,” he said.

Motal also assured firm water customers—municipal customers such as the city of Austin that have guaranteed contracts for Lake Travis water—that their water supply will not be exhausted. That assurance can be made in part because of an emergency drought order the LCRA board requested the past two years that cuts off downstream agricultural operations, or interruptible customers, from Highland Lakes water. Both Motal and Scott Spears, an LCRA board member and water operations committee chairman, have suggested such action may again be necessary in 2014 if drought conditions persist.
Austin’s water use

Only a fraction of Austin’s total water supply comes from the Highland Lakes—the Austin, Buchanan, Inks, Lady Bird, Marble Falls and Travis lakes—as most of the supply comes from run-of-river rights with the Colorado River when water is freely flowing. LCRA releases water from Lake Travis into the river to meet Austin’s demand, said Daryl Slusher, assistant director at Austin Water Utility for environmental affairs.

During drought times, Austin takes a proportionately higher share of water from the Highland Lakes because the drought has caused low inflows, but the Highland Lakes reserves have not been able to make up the deficit, he said.

“Austin has the strongest policies in the region to encourage water use efficiency and to respond to drought conditions, but we cannot solve the problem alone,” Slusher said. “It will take regional cooperation and changes in how the Highland Lakes are managed to reduce the chances of facing similar supply shortages in the future.”
Long-term plan delayed

A stricter plan for managing Central Texas water has been delayed until spring 2014 to allow state officials more time to collect information on looming drought conditions.

Zak Covar, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said streamflow data, or the amount of water flowing into the Highland Lakes during the drought, needs to be included before final approval is made on a pending LCRA water management plan.

“I understand the importance of the [water management plan] to all the stakeholders in the basin,” Covar said in a June 3 letter to Motal. “In addition, the Colorado River Basin is currently experiencing severe drought conditions with no immediate relief in sight.”

LCRA first submitted its proposed water management plan to TCEQ last year after more than 18 months of deliberations with basin stakeholders. TCEQ then held a public comment period, during which it received 94 written comments and 96 requests for additional hearings, TCEQ spokesman Terry Clawson said.

Now TCEQ intends to hold its own evaluation process, which will include additional information collection and other stakeholder meetings, the first of which took place June 26 when more than 20 speakers provided public comment.

“There is no more important issue facing this region now than the drought, and having a plan that protects the water supply for our firm customers is critical,” Motal said in a statement supporting the additional review.

*  Story Contributed by: Community Impact