photo by News 8 Austin

The Colorado River has been feeding the economy of the lower basin counties of Wharton, Colorado and Matagorda for the last century. Now, the water that quenches the thirst of these rice fields might be curtailed more than previously thought.

The Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages the Highland Lakes, met with farmers in Matagorda Tuesday to discuss whether the agency can provide irrigation water next year.

The LCRA said lake levels will be below a trigger point to cut off water to downstream farmers, in just one of several issues facing the state's water supply and management.

LCRA staff recommended the board ask the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for temporary emergency relief. If drought conditions were to continue, LCRA staff said the decline in water levels could affect municipal customers.

"We would be below that 250,000 acre-foot threshold for protecting our firm customers before September of 2011," LCRA General Manager Tom Mason said.

Those firm customers include municipal water utilities, like the City of Austin.

Mason said having lakes below 250,000 acre-feet in the capital could have political repercussions for LCRA.

"There will be lots of press coverage. There will be arguments about policy issues. There will be arguments about whose economy is more important," Mason said.

A number of farmers attended Tuesday's meeting to voice their concerns.

Rice farmers who rely on the water to irrigate their crops said their entire economies would be affected. LCRA has never cut off irrigation supply prior.

Many attending the meeting said the conflict seems to be between rural and urban economies.

"It's interesting that you're worried about what the lakes are going to look like down there and the pressure that you're going to have to endure, and the front page of the paper showing what used to be lakes and are ultimately rivers now. I can certainly appreciate that," farmer Joe Crane said. "But, what about these small rural communities, where you drive down Main Street and the lights are all turned off, because there's no economy left?"

Farmers said their economies would suffer, because the fruits of the Colorado flow further than the rice fields.

"All involved in rice production would suffer," rice farmer Paul Silva said. "From the seed company in Bay City to the chemical and fertilizer dealers in El Campo to the aerial applicator right up the road, to the rice mill in Freeport."

The LCRA acknowledged the difficulty in the dilemma.

"For the arguments about whose economy is more important, it will be very, very unpleasant," Mason said.

Gov. Rick Perry said, earlier in the day, droughts are the type of events we don't have any control over.

"What we do have control over is those agencies that have been given oversight authority to make sure there is an equitable way of which our resources are distributed across the state. I have full confidence the LCRA's going to make good decisions, not only for those users upstream, but for those agriculture users downstream," he said.