The Board of Directors of the Lower Colorado River Authority voted Wednesday (November 17) to seek a buyer for the organization’s 32 rural and suburban water and wastewater utility systems.

LCRA has purchased and developed community water systems in the Hill Country and along the Colorado River, mostly in the past 10-15 years. Traditionally, the 75-year-old river authority did not provide treated water, only raw water from the Colorado River.

“Any organization, public or private, needs to focus on what it does best,” said LCRA Board Chair Rebecca Klein. “The decision to sell the water utility will allow the LCRA to focus on providing adequate raw water for a growing region, on flood management and providing reliable electric power.”

LCRA operates dams and large, centralized power plants as well as interconnected transmission infrastructure for a large constituency and customer base. Its water/wastewater utility revenues are budgeted at $36 million a year, roughly 3 percent of the total revenues of the river authority.

LCRA General Manager Tom Mason said that the river authority helped many communities improve their systems. “LCRA has invested roughly $300 million in these systems and brought many of them into compliance with state water quality rules,” Mason said. "This has been good for both the economic climate and the environment, but it is time for a company primarily focused on this service to take over operations.”

Mason pledged that customers and communities served by LCRA utilities will see continued, reliable service through the period of selling the utility, which could take two years or more. “We are proud of the job our employees do and their excellent reliable service to LCRA’s customers,” Mason said.

The affected utilities are:

Williamson County

Liberty Hill Regional Wastewater System
Sandy Creek Regional Water System (Leander)

West Travis County Region

Glenlake Water System
Rollingwood Wastewater Collection System
West Lake Hills Wastewater Collection System
West Travis County Regional Wastewater System
West Travis County Regional Water System (Bee Caves and Dripping Springs Service Areas)

Southeast Region

Alleyton Wastewater System
Alleyton Water System
Camp Swift Regional Wastewater System
Elgin Wastewater System
Matagorda Dunes Wastewater System
Matagorda Dunes Waster System
McKinney Roughs Wastewater System
Tahitian Village Wastewater System
Windmill Ranch Wastewater System

Hill Country Region

Bonanza Beach Water System
Hamilton Creek Water System
Lake Buchanan Water System
Lometa Regional Water System (Lampasas County)
Lometa Wastewater System
Paradise Point Water System
Quail Creek Water System
Ridge Harbor Wastewater System
Ridge Harbor Water System
Sandy Harbor Water System
Smithwick Mills Water System
South Road Water System
Spicewood Beach Regional Water System
Sunrise Beach Water System
Tow Village Water System
Whitewater Springs Water System