LCRA will begin reporting residents who pump water from the Highland Lakes without a contract to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which can levy fines for the illegal pumping.

“Everyone needs to play by the same rules when it comes to the precious, shared and limited resource of water from the Highland Lakes,” LCRA General Manager Becky Motal said. “We’ve been asking and encouraging people to obtain the required contracts for a long time. Now it’s time to step up enforcement.” 

Pumping water stored in lakes Buchanan, Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls, Travis or Austin without a contract is a violation of state law. LCRA estimates that more than 5,000 residents use pumps to pull water from the lakes for lawn watering and other uses in or around their homes. Those residents use an estimated 5,000 acre-feet of water a year, which is more than many Highland Lakes communities.

In 2009, fewer than 60 residents had the necessary contracts to make pumping water from the lakes legal. Now, after an education and outreach effort, more than 2,000 have contracts. That still leaves more than 3,000 residents who are pulling water from the Highland Lakes without a contract. LCRA will now begin documenting violations and reporting them to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for further enforcement.

“This drought has highlighted how important it is to account for every drop of water,” Motal said.

Residents with contracts have been sent large domestic use stickers. LCRA requests that they post the stickers on their intake pipes or in other areas that can be easily viewed from the lake.

Domestic use customers pay $151 an acre-foot for water.  That is the same rate LCRA’s municipal and industrial customers pay for raw water. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons. Three-quarters of an acre-foot, which costs $113.25, is sufficient to meet the annual needs of most households. 

LCRA began sending letters to lakeside residents last week informing them of the pending enforcement efforts and providing them with contracts to sign. More information and contracts can be found at LCRA.org or by calling LCRA’s Domestic Use Contract Hotline at 1-800-776-5272, ext. 1535.

 “We expect that most residents will do the right thing and sign contracts for the water they use,” Motal said. “Many already have, and we really appreciate that. But to be fair to everyone, it’s time to accelerate efforts.”