Lower Colorado basin needs an effective Water Management Plan

By Timothy Timmerman
Chair, LCRA Board of Directors

On Feb. 21 and 22, the Lower Colorado River Authority Board of Directors will consider a revised Water Management Plan that will determine how water in the Highland Lakes is managed for years to come. It will be one of the most important decisions this Board will make.

There has been much discussion about the proposed plan, which has been available on LCRA's website, lcra.org, since Jan. 24. But the revised version provides enormous benefits for this region. It gives LCRA more flexibility than it has now to manage lakes Travis and Buchanan and makes our agency more responsive to growing demands for water. This new plan is as advantageous as it is necessary.

Strong opinions have been voiced on all sides about the proposed revision. But to focus on minor issues that one side or another considers less than perfect would do a disservice to the long and difficult process that produced the document. The revision was a tremendous effort that took 18 months and involved LCRA staff and a 16-member advisory committee representing cities, industries, lakes interests, environmental concerns and farmers. There is plenty of common ground in it, more than some might expect from a group with diverse and sometimes competing needs for water.

Yet here we are, on the verge of approving a revised Water Management Plan that benefits the Highland Lakes, serves agricultural interests when enough water is available, and provides fresh water for the Colorado River and Matagorda Bay. The Board truly appreciates the fact that this negotiated plan demanded so much effort and compromise.

It's a plan for the entire basin, and it couldn't have come at a more critical time. For 15 months, Central Texas has been in an agonizing drought that has lowered the reservoirs so much that businesses that depend on them have closed, boat docks sit on dry land, and wells have dried up. It's just as bad for farmers. For the first time in LCRA's history, there likely will be no water for irrigating rice fields this year.

But the straits we are in, I believe, helped produce a Water Management Plan that has broad appeal and is widely praised for its fairness. It came together because everyone involved with it understood a few basic facts: the plan we are under does not work in a drought this severe; changes needed to be made to make it more adaptive to changing circumstances; and they needed to be made quickly in case this terrible drought doesn't end anytime soon. Those involved also understood that we are in this together, and no one group should prosper at the expense of another.

I want to thank each member and alternate on the advisory committee for the hard work that went into this revision. Their advice was invaluable. LCRA accepted public comments on the plan by email until Feb. 9 and will hear more at the Water Operations Committee and the Board of Directors meetings this month. From comments made to some Board members, staff has proposed a change – moving the cutoff for irrigating a second rice crop from 1.2 million acre-feet of combined storage in lakes Travis and Buchanan to 1 million acre-feet after 2020. Other comments may come from the emails or during our meetings.

After studying the revisions and assessing the comments and proposals, the Board will vote on a plan to send to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which has final authority. The current plan, approved in early 2010, took a decade to get finalized. This revision might take less than two years from beginning the process of studying needed updates to final approval, which is a huge improvement. Our best chance for quick approval at TCEQ is to send them a document that is thorough, effective and has broad support. This much-needed revision in the plan is by necessity a compromise, but it's one that serves the needs of the lower Colorado River basin.

This extreme drought has proven two things beyond any doubt. Our basin needs more water storage, which is why LCRA is committed to finding another 100,000 acre-feet of storage by 2017. We also need a new Water Management Plan, one that gives LCRA the flexibility it needs to adjust to changing demands in drought years and wet years. This is our opportunity to make that happen.