OUR TURN: LCRA needs to re-think its water-release policy
Someone once said water is the new oil, and the saying couldn’t be any more true than here in Central Texas. And right now the Lower Colorado River Authority finds itself caught on the horns of a dilemma because water has truly become a precious — and dwindling — commodity.
The only real solution for LCRA in these drought-stricken times is to re-think its policy on releasing water from the shrinking Highland Lakes to agricultural interests downstream.
The situation is serious.
The agency is charged with preserving the Colorado River, which supplies drinking water and supports the hydroelectric needs of more than a million people in the Highland Lakes. In addition, the agency has to honor its contracts with firm-water customers, including cities and agencies such as Marble Falls, Burnet, Granite Shoals and Windermere Oaks that rely on a steady supply.
But LCRA also has to take care of its obligations to the rice farmers downstream in Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda counties, who need the water for their crops and their livelihood.
Normally delivering on these needs is not a problem. Until you have a record drought like the present dry spell. In fact, the period from October to May was the driest 10 months on record since 1895. The region has broken another record for the number of days in the triple digits — more than 70. And the past year has seen another record of dubious distinction — rainfall is 12-16 inches less than what it should be.
True, this still isn’t as bad as the drought of record in the 1950s. But today, we have more population in the Highland Lakes and more development. Meanwhile, the situation shows no signs of letting up any time soon.
Last week, reservoirs Buchanan and Travis were at 43 percent capacity. With the extra heat, evaporation adds to the dire situation, especially as inflows slow to nil.
Several consumers, including state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and the Burnet County commissioners, have asked LCRA to curtail a “second crop,” or release of water, to the rice farmers downstream.
They argue there just isn’t enough water in lakes Buchanan and Travis, an observation seconded by the Central Texas Water Coalition.
LCRA is a bureaucracy, and like any bureaucracy, it gets defensive when its policies are assailed. The agency is currently under contract to release more water to the rice farmers, and its experts argue the drought is not bad enough to trigger an interruption of the supply.
No one wants to see the rice farmers suffer. No one wants them to endure economic hardship. But the facts seem incontrovertible: The Highland Lakes, the source of all this water — which, by the way, is necessary for life in Central Texas cities — are shrinking.
At some point the rice farmers are just going to have to do what everybody else does: Pray for rain.
But under the current plan, the LCRA can’t suspend those releases unless the combined water storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis is below 1.4 million acre-feet as of Jan. 1.
That means officials can’t halt a release of water to rice farmers because the lakes have not fallen below that trigger point.
Regardless of the language, it’s apparent to nearly all that the lakes are too low to allow any prolonged releases.
But there are some solutions.
An advisory committee on the water-management plan has proposed a change that would give LCRA a second trigger point — June 1 — before releasing a “second crop.”
The LCRA board should vote to support this recommendation. They meet next month.
Or, LCRA also could request the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality authorize an emergency modification to the current water-management plan to limit the second release.
No matter what, the authority’s leaders need to realize the old way of doing business no longer works. If they don’t soon make the right decision, more than just the livelihood of some rice farmers will dry up.