Posted: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 10:18 AM - 6,236 Readers

By: Charles Ryan Boisseau

Burnet County Commissioners voted Tuesday to declare the county a disaster region because continuing dry conditions threaten already parched ranches and several water-starved communities.

Officials with Windermere Oaks Water Supply Corp., a community in southeast Burnet County along the dwindling Lake Travis, told commissioners that as soon as this weekend they may have to start using trucks to haul water to the community’s 230 residential customers at a cost of up to $90,000 a month.

Despite last week’s spit of rain, the drought continues in a county that has received roughly half the amount of normal rainfall, prompting the commissioners to order the county’s disaster response, setting in motion possible state and federal grants and low-interest loans to help ranchers, farmers and communities.

The action follows recent similar declarations from commissioners’ courts in Bastrop and Llano counties, said Jim Barho, the county’s emergency management coordinator. As of late Tuesday, commissioners were working to finalize a letter to Gov. Rick Perry to formally ask for assistance.

County Judge Donna Klaeger said U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and U.S. Rep Mike Conaway have already requested federal assistance, which might come from the Federal Emergency Management Administration or the Department of Homeland Security, among others.

“This sets in motion the process to get state and federal assistance,” said Barho, emphasizing the action doesn’t provide any specific funding or action plan.