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<BACK
Lcra Has Promised More Firm Water
Than Lakes Travis And Buchanan Actually Have.
It has oversold actual firm water
and is continuing to sell. It is pursuing ways to find more water outside
the lakes, but is hitting significant obstacles. LCRA
has promised before they can deliver.
Lakes Travis and Buchanan currently
have 445,226 AFY (acre feet per year) of firm water. LCRA
has sold 491,000 AFY as of April, 2007, and is still
selling. (325,851 gallons equals one acre foot)
LCRA is trying to find more water. How?
- Purchase downstream “run of the river” water
rights. What will LCRA do with these rights? Reservoirs
downstream off the Colorado River have been tried and
have failed several times. (Who wants their land
seized and flooded?) Diverting this water into
reservoirs for the rice farmers to use probably won’t
work. LCRA has decided to try to divert these
rights back to Lake Travis on paper. This
does not increase the water in the lake.
- LCRA wants to team with San
Antonio (LCRA/SAWS Project), put in reservoirs plus wells into aquifers
near Matagorda Bay. The Project is still “in
the works” after 10 years of studies and negotiations. Filling
reservoirs takes a lot of time. The Highland
Lakes system was not built in a day. Lots of
aquifers near the site are salty, and the land has
not been acquired. (What was that about land
being seized and flooded?) This project faces
major opposition.
- LCRA is putting “conservation” measures
into effect in the rice fields. Rice farming is apparently
declining in favor of turf farms and corn-ethanol. LCRA’s “conservation” measures
might conserve less and less. As cities grow, water
usage will be more and more.
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