The Lower Colorado River Authority has submitted its new proposed Water Management Plan for lakes Buchanan and Travis to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for review and approval. The new plan, adopted by LCRA’s Board of Directors on Feb. 22, gives LCRA more flexibility to respond to severe droughts.

Now that LCRA has submitted the plan, TCEQ has up to a year from the time it determines LCRA’s application is administratively complete to perform its technical review. The proposed plan, the written public comments and the exhibits filed with the TCEQ are posted here.

To assist with this update, as in previous updates, LCRA assembled an advisory committee to represent the diverse interests that rely on Highland Lakes water. The advisory committee included representatives from cities, industry, lake area businesses and residents, the environment and farmers. The committee began its work in July 2010 and spent more than a year investigating and discussing how to best balance the demands on the Highland Lakes.

The committee came to a consensus and near consensus on many of the recommended changes in the proposed Water Management Plan. LCRA accepted public comment on the plan and reviewed about 450 written comments before approving it. If the new plan is approved by TCEQ, it will replace the current version of the Water Management Plan that the TCEQ approved Jan. 27, 2010.

LCRA's Water Management Plan is the only one of its kind in the state. It was required by the 1989 court settlement that determined the water rights for the Highland Lakes. The state approved the first Water Management Plan in 1989. Updates were approved in 1992, 1999 and 2010.

The Water Management Plan governs LCRA's operation of the Highland Lakes to meet the needs of major water users throughout the lower Colorado River basin. Specifically, the Water Management Plan prescribes how to allocate water during water supply shortages. During severe drought, the plan directs the curtailment (or cutback) of Highland Lakes water for downstream agriculture so that water will be available for the basic needs of cities, businesses and industries. Under the plan, LCRA and its customers take actions at designated points, known as "trigger points," as water storage levels drop. The plan also prescribes how LCRA must provide water from the lakes to help meet the environmental needs of the lower Colorado River and Matagorda Bay at these various trigger points.

Currently, LCRA is managing the lakes under an emergency drought relief order approved by the TCEQ in December. Under that order, which acts as a temporary amendment to the current Water Management Plan, LCRA will not provide any water from the Highland Lakes to most downstream farmers this year.

Because storage was less than 850,000 acre-feet on March 1, farmers in the Lakeside, Gulf Coast and Pierce Ranch irrigation operations will not receive any water from the Highland Lakes this year. Farmers in the Garwood irrigation operation will still receive some water from the Highland Lakes this year, up to 19,000 or 20,000 acre-feet, because of their contract with LCRA. For comparison, downstream farmers diverted about 368,000 acre-feet of Highland Lakes water last year for a first and second crop.