MF to join water coalition after council vote

December 18, 2012, 10:00 pm by Adam Troxtell

Marble Falls City Council has passed a resolution allowing the city to join dozens of other municipalities in a coalition of Lower Colorado River Authority firm water customers.

The coalition will allow the communities to combine their efforts to make local needs a factor in future decisions of how to manage LCRA water. It will be a legal authority with non-profit status, City Manager Ralph Hendricks said.

"The organization is not formed yet,” Hendricks said. "There are no dues and no one's hiring a lawyer. One of the primary purposes is to monitor the LCRA water management plan and provide input on that plan.”

The latest LCRA emergency drought order prompted the formation of the coalition. In November, the LCRA Board approved a new emergency order that would result in approximately 150,000 acre feet of water being released to downstream rice farmers in the spring if the combined storage of lakes Buchanan and Travis were more than 775,000 acre feet. In an update about the city's water during the Dec. 4 council meeting, Hendricks said the current storage is around 884,000 acre feet, and forecasts are predicting a dry winter for the Highland Lakes.

Officials in Highland Lakes communities, including Marble Falls, fear the emergency order could result in dangerously low lake levels if the drought continues into the summer.

Mayor George Russell said the coalition would include between 30-35 municipalities and that it is important for the town to take part.

"I think it will be beneficial for Marble Falls to take part in this,” Russell said. "There are issues down the road that could impact our community.”

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.