To help manage the lower Colorado River watershed more effectively, LCRA is developing water quality computer models of the river system, including its tributaries and lakes.
Launched in 2002, the Colorado River Environmental Models (CREMS) project is expected to take 10 years and cost $8.2 million to complete. The goal is to develop tools to help diagnose existing problems and issues, discern trends, and predict the consequences of various decisions and actions on the Highland Lakes, lower Colorado River and tributaries.
The initial phase will analyze the overall sources and processes of nutrients in Lake Travis. The work will prepare for more specific models and studies of LCRA's nonpoint-source pollution control ordinances, and of the state's ban on new wastewater discharges into the Highland Lakes.
After the first phase, the LCRA Board of Directors will consider further modeling projects for Lake Travis and for other sections of the river.
LCRA recently began work on a state contract to sample the water and study the causes of elevated E. coli bacteria in Gilleland Creek in northeast Travis County.
