The Lakeway Bee

The Central Texas Water Coalition (CTWC), a nonprofit 501(c)4 organization, together with Burnet County, will hold an Informational session on the region’s most pressing water issues.

Area residents and business owners will be able to engage in a Q&A session with a panel of representatives from LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority), TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), TWDB (Texas Water Development Board), Corp of Engineers, and CTWC (Central Texas Water Coalition).

Water Issues Meeting
Thursday, January 26, 2012, 6:00 pm
Burnet Community Center
401 E. Jackson, Burnet, TX
 
One  goal of the January 26 meeting is to discuss reaction to proposed revisions to the LCRA’s Lake Buchanan and Travis Water Management Plan and Drought Contingency Plans, released for public comment on January 24.
 
CTWC brings together concerned individuals and groups to constructively address water issues of the Lower Colorado River Basin. Members of CTWC banded together while representing the Highland Lakes on the LCRA Water Management Plan Stakeholders Advisory Committee, formed in 2010.
 
“What became very clear to us is that the Highland Lakes are not viewed as the anchor for communities and businesses, but as buckets of water for LCRA customers,” says Jo Karr Tedder, president of CTWC. “Tourism drives the economy of the Highland Lakes counties, and without water in the lakes we lose an irreplaceable economic engine for the State of Texas.”
 
“The water we have in the Lakes is precious, limited, and must be protected; there is no new water,” says Rusty Brandon, CTWC board member. Brandon, who owns Hi-Line Lake Resort on Lake Buchanan, has had to take a second job operating heavy equipment after low lake levels greatly impacted his revenues.
 
CTWC wants the LCRA’s Water Management Plan, and statewide policy, to address several of the group’s priorities, including:
 
Water management practices that provide effective operating ranges for Lakes Buchanan and Travis, protect water for health and safety needs (drinking water) and protect the Central Texas economy (including business, jobs, and property values)
identification/creation of viable additional sources of downstream water supply to meet the demands of predicted population growth
Ensure equity and fairness of water rate structure for all users
assurance of basin management in accordance with 1989 court adjudicated findings that state that the supply of stored water to non-firm, interruptible commitments should be interrupted or curtailed to the extent necessary to satisfy all existing and projected demands for stored water to all firm commitments
adjustment of water management modeling and policies to appropriately manage risk
reevaluation of drought conditions to change the criteria for declaring a “drought worse than the drought of record”
Another informational meeting held by CTWC on January 12 drew a standing-room only crowd of more than 300.
 
About CTWC
 
Central Texas Water Coalition, Inc. (CTWC) is a non-profit 501(c)4 umbrella organization formed by the Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan volunteer members of the LCRA Water Management Advisory Committee. CTWC’s mission is to advocate for the preservation and conservation of the Highland Lakes' water supply and water levels for the benefit of human health, safety, and recreation and tourism, and to preserve the Highland Lakes' role as an irreplaceable economic engine for the State of Texas.