ENVIRONMENT Board raises price of water for LCRA irrigation customers
RAISING Water costs for Lakeside, Gulf Coast and Garwood divisions rose following the Jan. 19 LCRA meeting. PRICE OF WATER PER ACRE FOOT RATES
BY GRACE DICKENS
created in 1989 and has been updated periodically since then with the latest update in 2020. This plan governs the use of water from the Highland Lakes and establishes a variety of safeguards for rmwater users, including what thresholds would require interruptible customers to be cut o , Hofmann said. Another concern raised by public comment was the rates were not high enough to discourage waste among interruptible customers, which could threaten the shrinking amount of water available in the growing region. Before 2011, the average use per acre in the rst season in the Gulf Coast division was 3.3-4.4 acre feet per acre. From 2018-21, that average has dropped to between 1.9-3.1 acre feet per acre, which indicates a much lower use per acre than what has been seen historically, Hofmann said. “We know better than anybody about the population growth that’s occurring in our area …that’s one of the reasons why we’ve worked so hard to try and develop these long-termwater supplies,” Hofmann said. “The water management plan’s sole purpose is to make sure that the provision of interruptible stored water does not imperil the rm supplies that we have.”
LAKESIDE GULF COAST
GARWOOD
The Lower Colorado River Author- ity board of directors voted Jan. 19 to increase the cost of water for interruptible agricultural service customers. This change caused a 5% increase for the Lakeside and Gulf Coast service area contract holders, raising the rate from $66.14 per acre-foot delivered to $69.44. Rates also were increased for interruptible contracts in Garwood, going from $38.32 to $39.19 or from $45.42 to $46.46 depending on the location within the service area. The LCRA acts as a public utility by providing electricity and water to rm and interruptible customers. Firm customers are cities, businesses and industries that require reliable long-termwater supplies available regardless of drought conditions. Interruptible contracts are agricul- ture customers that may have their water supply shut o during drought President of Water John Hofmann presented the board with about 150 responses received through LCRA’s online portal and other means during the public comment period, which ran from Dec. 16-Jan. 7. The majority of comments addressed similar con- cerns about rates being too low and encouraging waste downstream, the use of the Agriculture Reserve Fund to sti e rate shock and a dispropor- tionate impact on rm customers as a result of lower prices for interruptible customers, Hofmann said. “The concerns of people that expressed those were sincere con- cerns; they’re driven by concern for our region,” Hofmann said. “Those concerns are being expressed out of the information they are getting, and the information happens to be bad.” The LCRA manages the Colorado River through a system of six dams, which create six reservoirs stretching from 80 miles northeast of Austin through Central Austin. Lake conditions to preserve water. On Jan. 18, Executive Vice Buchanan and Lake Travis are the only water supply reservoirs within the LCRA system, with Lake Travis being the largest. The water management plan was
2021 2022
$66.14 $69.44
2021 2022
$38.32-$39.19*
$45.42-$46.46*
*BASED ON LOCATION WITHIN SERVICE AREA
Firm water use is concentrated in highly urbanized areas, while interruptible water usage for agriculture is focused in rural areas downstream. TRACKING WATER USE
DAMS
1 Buchanan Dam 2 Inks Dam 3 Wirtz Dam
4 Max Starcke Dam 5 Mans eld Dam 6 Tom Miller Dam
LAKE BUCHANAN
281
1
INKS LAKE
195
29
2
183
LAKE LYNDON B. JOHNSON
13
12
17
71
35
4
3
79
3
7
LAKE MARBLE FALLS
8
LAKE TRAVIS
10
15
45 TOLL
620
6
21
LAKE AUSTIN
130 TOLL
11
5
4
71
10
19 23
3
290
5
1
360
1
6
71
2
183
9
290
4
290
2
MOPAC
59
22
35
14
281
16
MAP NOT TO SCALE N
GALLONS USED FIRM CUSTOMERS
9 Hurst Creek MUD (The Hills) From Highland Lakes: 1,077 10 Lago Vista From Highland Lakes: 1,478 11 Lakeway MUD From Highland Lakes: 2,501 12 Leander From Highland Lakes: 10,861 13 Marble Falls From Highland Lakes: 1,575 14 Oxea Corp. From Highland Lakes: 1,215 From other water rights: 4,163 15 P ugerville From Highland Lakes: 8,245 16 South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. From other water rights: 12,795 17 Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant From Highland Lakes: 1,201
21 Travis County WCID No. 17 From Highland Lakes: 8,256 22 Underground Services Markham LP From Highland Lakes: 1,395 From other water rights: 4,592 23 West Travis County Public Utility Agency From Highland Lakes: 6,517 INTERRUPTIBLE CUSTOMERS 1 Garwood Irrigation Division From Highland Lakes: 1,456 From other water rights: 74,074 2 Gulf Coast Irrigation Division From Highland Lakes: 12,213 From other water rights: 44,623 3 Lakeside Irrigation Division From Highland Lakes: 28,757
1 Austin (citywide and parks) From Highland Lakes: 53,346 From other water rights: 107,593 2 Bastrop Energy Partners LP From Highland Lakes: 1,864 From other water rights: 180 3 Cedar Park From Highland Lakes: 16,957 4 Corix Utilities (Lometa) From Highland Lakes: 871 5 Decker Power Plant From other water rights: 1,850 6 Fayette Power Project From Highland Lakes: 10,370 From other water rights: 8,105 7 Horseshoe Bay From Highland Lakes: 2,235 8 Horseshoe Bay Resort LTD From Highland Lakes: 1,186
From other water rights: 36,016 4 Pierce Ranch Irrigation Co. From Highland Lakes: 8,618 From other water rights: 8,388
19 Travis County MUD No. 4 From Highland Lakes: 2,663
SOURCE: LOWER COLORADO RIVER AUTHORITY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
17
LAKE TRAVIS WESTLAKE EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
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