It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic

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Austin Boater

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Austin Boater

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It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic
Feb 29^th, 2012 at 12:24pm

Friends,
As you know, the future of our lakes are hanging in the balance as we approach the March 1 date for allowing LCRA to determine whether or not to release water to the rice farmers. If we reach a combined storage of 850,000 AF, they will get water.
We have been monitoring the levels, and are surprised by LCRA numbers. Hard to understand how inflows are going down, and yet the combined storage is climbing; on the 23rd, 833,000 combined storage; 24th, 837; 25th, 839; 26th, 841; 27th, 842; 28th, 843; 29th, 845,656 AF.
We learned that yesterday there were two hours of releases from Buchanan, but 5 hours of releases from LBJ, and 6 hours from Lake Marble Falls. We have asked LCRA staff to find out why. We were told the flow came down the Llano River yesterday, but that seems to be a stretch.
While the usual time for LCRA determination is 8 am (according to LCRA’s David Walker and Bob Rose), a ‘management decision’ was made to assess the level at 11:59 pm on March 1 (according to LCRA’s Ryan Rowney at the Spicewood meeting).
We have our hydrologist working on an assessment so we will be able to respond if the decision to release water is made based upon questionable data. We also have our attorney looking at our legal options.
So, one more time, we are asking YOU to contact your LCRA Board members, your elected officials, and anyone else you know who may be able to help us. Sen. Fraser is on this already; and CTWC has communicated with Sen. Watson and our Central TX representatives, but YOUR CALLS and EMAILS MATTER!
We will send you a copy of the CTWC press release as soon as it goes out.
Regardless of the outcome of this March 1 deadline, CTWC is in this fight for as long as it takes, and we firmly believe that right will prevail.
Jo Karr Tedder
President, CTWC
www.OurWater-OurFuture.com
www.facebook.com/centraltexaswatercoalition

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LookSquirrel Austin Boater Offline Austin Boater Posts: 181 Libertyhill, TX Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #1 - Feb 29^th, 2012 at 2:56pm Will do, good work...
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nathan Lake Admiral Offline Going Home !!!!! Posts: 2120 Leander, TX Soon Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #2 - Feb 29^th, 2012 at 8:37pm It is a good thing to see multiple people going going against the rice farmers. the framers could careless about the lake as long as they get their water.
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Stimulus Package Austin Boater Offline Austin Boater Posts: 222	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #3 - Feb 29^th, 2012 at 9:24pm I can't believe the LCRA would agree to dump roughly 25% of the lake's current supply for Spring rice crops but apparently this will be considered tomorrow. The LCRA and the Rice Farmers continue to be cozy.
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Captain YARRR Admin Offline Doing the rain dance Posts: 2587 Round Rock, TX Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #4 - Mar 1^st, 2012 at 8:25am Fingers crosssssseeddddddd.
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Wake man Lake Captain Offline Austin Boater Posts: 687 Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #5 - Mar 1^st, 2012 at 1:08pm Any word on it?
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PDubs Austin Boater Offline Austin Boater Posts: 112 Austin Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #6 - Mar 1^st, 2012 at 8:02pm OP - Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with everything! Statesman article (last updated 03/01 @ 6:15pm): http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/green/entries/201... Near real-time counter: http://lcra.org/
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Captain YARRR Admin Offline Doing the rain dance Posts: 2587 Round Rock, TX Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #7 - Mar 1^st, 2012 at 10:46pm Great links thank you!
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PDubs

Austin Boater

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Austin Boater

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Austin
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Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic
Reply #8 - Mar 2^nd, 2012 at 12:13am

Updated from the LCRA page:
Quote:

"The combined storage for lakes Buchanan and Travis at 11:59 p.m. on March 1 was 847,324 acre-feet. That was the highest storage level on March 1. Because combined storage on March 1 was less than 850,000 acre-feet, most downstream farmers will not receive water from the Highland Lakes this year, according to the drought relief measures approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Dec. 7."

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Austin Boater

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Austin Boater

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Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic
Reply #9 - Mar 4^th, 2012 at 8:22pm

AUSTIN—A March 1, 2012 deadline and a lake storage level trigger were carefully watched this week by residents and businesses up and down the Lower Colorado River Basin. If the levels in Lakes Buchanan and Travis, already devastated by last year’s record releases to interruptible downstream interests during the worst drought in recorded history, had risen just inches more by Thursday at 11:59 pm, massive amounts of water would be released beginning April 1st.
This release would have brought Central Texas closer to pro rata curtailment of cities and industries. It is not happening. The first ever curtailment of water for agriculture may keep the economic engine of Central Texas alive one more year.
The combined storage of Lakes Travis and Buchanan now stands at approximately 847,000 AF of stored water or 58% empty. At the 850,000 AF level, the emergency measure passed by the TCEQ months earlier would have allowed the delivery of 125,000 AF of water for rice farmers, requiring releases from lakes Buchanan and Travis of up to one-third more than this amount to account for leakage and other losses in the canals that supply water for rice and other crops such as turf, and Garwood, an interruptible rice customer whose contract guarantees water.
Absent further rain, the two reservoirs could have dropped as much as 200,000 AF, putting lake levels well below the lows reached in 2011. To put that in perspective, if 200,000 AF were released from Lake Travis today, the lake would be more than 26 feet lower (approximately 604 msl). If the water were released from Lake Buchanan, that lake would be over 17 feet lower (approximately 975 msl). This would leave about 18 months of drinking water supplies in the two reservoirs--risky at best.
How did we get to this point? A simple history lesson seldom told: When the dams for the Highland Lakes were built in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, the population of Central Texas was small, the counties of Wharton, Colorado, and Matagorda had a booming ri

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Austin Boater

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Austin Boater

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Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic
Reply #10 - Mar 4^th, 2012 at 8:22pm

‘30’s and ‘40’s, the population of Central Texas was small, the counties of Wharton, Colorado, and Matagorda had a booming rice industry, and there was plenty of water for all. Fast forward to 2010, and the Highland Lakes in Central Texas are home to close to 2 million people and industries, while the lower three counties are decreasing to approximately 98,000 residents.
Yet the interruptible interests continue to claim seventy percent of the water from the Highland Lakes as stated in the recently passed Water Management Plan of the LCRA. The cities have done a great job of conserving water and lowering usage levels, all the while growing rapidly. The price of raw water for agriculture, about $6 per AF of stored water, has not changed in decades, giving no incentive for conservation, while Austin citizens have paid more and more, now with a rate of $151 per AF and slated to rise again.
The State of Texas has not created significant new water supplies in 40 years. Power plants around the state are looking for alternatives to surface water for their cooling needs. Groundwater is being snapped up all over the state, and controversial new rulings may accelerate this pace. Current water supplies in the Lower Colorado River Basin may be over-committed, and do not appear capable of meeting projected needs for drinking water and industry.
It is time the State Legislature took serious action to provide sustainable new water supplies for Texas and to preserve the natural resource and economic powerhouse, the Highland Lakes. Off Channel Reservoirs are short term options, but not the solution. Australia has made extensive use of desalination, and Israel has just brought online a new desalination plant that will enable the country to sell water to other parts of the region. Brackish groundwater is available in Central Texas as well as fresh groundwater. Alternative crops and new irrigation methods must be pursued in our arid and semiarid regions, along with aggressive conservati

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Austin Boater

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Austin Boater

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Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic
Reply #11 - Mar 4^th, 2012 at 8:25pm

along with aggressive conservation, water reuse and xeriscaping. Additional supplies must be sought, and innovative technologies such as desalination and Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) pursued.
Lawmakers need to unite now and put partisan politics aside. Act to preserve the robust health of Texas now before the population doubles again! We are all in this together.

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Austin Boater

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Austin Boater

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Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic
Reply #12 - Mar 4^th, 2012 at 8:30pm

Rice farmers are selfish, self-serving, delusional pricks. Sorry to be so heavy-handed on this. But they don't give a rat's ass about anyone but themselves. They better appreciate that second bountiful crop last fall as the rest of the state suffered immensely. And as they decimated the lakes that the rest of us depend on.

Remember, the "reservoirs" were created for agriculture. Nothing more.

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Captain YARRR Admin Offline Doing the rain dance Posts: 2587 Round Rock, TX Gender:	Re: It will be very close...but 850,000AF is realistic Reply #13 - Mar 5^th, 2012 at 4:50pm It seems like the most wasteful ridiculous thing to flood a field full of water in the middle of July. Grow something else.
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