Dwindling lakes, growing water demand in Central Texas

To many participants in the water planning process, the bottom line is clear: Water habits must adjust to new constraints

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Update, 5:13pm – Livestreaming, House Committee on State Affairs is now taking public testimony on sanctuary city-related bills. Part of the proposed legislation includes withholding of state funds for non-complying cities/counties. Due to lack of a quorum, the Texas House has adjourned until 11am Tuesday. The Texas Senate stands at recess until 2pm Wednesday. With several major bills still pending, lawmakers are hoping to conclude the special session this week.

Politico.com | By Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns | GOP Magic Trick: Making George W. Bush Vanish: NEW ORLEANS, June 20 2011 — Republicans head into 2012 united in their disdain for an unpopular, big government-loving, internationalist president. The name of that president: George W. Bush. From Capitol Hill to the statehouses to the presidential primary, Republicans are turning their back on almost every important accomplishment of the Bush administration. Bush’s attempt to reposition the GOP to the center-right has been rejected in favor of an unmodified brand of conservatism that would rather leave people alone than lift them up with any “armies of compassion.” Many of Bush’s distinctive policy ideas have fallen by the wayside, replaced by a nearly single-minded focus on reducing the size of government.

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By Kate Galbraith
Texas Tribune
Read the entire story

On the cliffs surrounding Central Texas’ large Lake Buchanan, a white ring extends some 13 feet above the shoreline, marking where the water reaches when the lake is full. At nearby Lake Travis, staircases that once led to the water’s edge now end well above it.

These two lakes serve as key water sources for dozens of cities and hundreds of farmers, as well as for several power plants. With Texas gripped by drought, water levels have fallen dramatically. Combined, the two lakes now hold 28 percent less water than their long-term average.

“This is scary,” said Janet Caylor, who owns two marinas on Lake Travis, the larger of the two lakes, and has had to move her docks as lake levels drop.

The current drought, drier than any other October-through-May stretch in Texas history, has heightened the stakes in an already contentious long-term planning battle over water from these lakes, which feed the lower Colorado River as it runs southeast to the Gulf of Mexico.

It has pitted fast-growing cities like Austin, which depend on the water for drinking and recreation, against rice farmers near the Gulf, who need vast amounts of water for irrigation. Lakeside residents and business owners like Caylor, frustrated by dropping water levels, want to keep the lakes as full as possible.

Last week, the Lower Colorado River Authority, a powerful state organization that controls the water in the two lakes and much of the river, postponed a controversial decision on whether to grant a contract to another major user. A coal plant planned near Bay City, downriver near the rice farmers, had sought to pay the LCRA $55 million up front, plus additional fees, to build a reservoir and ensure a 40-year supply of water to cool the plant.

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Bill Maher's "New Rules" takes on Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry That's what America needs, "a president who's not really sold on the whole 'United States' concept." Warning: Maher doesn't pull punches and uses salty language . . . the Perry segment is last in the line up

Wayne Christian's Texas Legislative Update: June 16, 2011
A one-cent increase in the sales tax would more than replace the $19 billion in property taxes that fund public education