Reports summarize water legislation and effects of the drought; Kyle to receive more water

On the local water supply front, the City of Kyle last week decided to exercise its contract option with the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority to receive an additional two million gallons-plus of water daily, raising the total to about 4.8 million gallons. The original contract provided 2.6 million gallons daily from Canyon Lake via the San Marcos water treatment plant. An expansion of the plant enabled Kyle to take its option, said GBRA spokeswoman Lamarriol Smith. The City of Buda also has an option for additional water supply. "To my knowledge there would be no more contracts from Canyon Lake . . . all of Canyon Lake water is, I believe, allocated," Smith said. Also of note, the controversial GBRA project proposing to extract and transport huge groundwater reserves by pipeline from the Simsboro Aquifer (in Bastrop County) is on hold. It has been "taken off the front burner because of budgetary issues," said Smith, but efforts to restore start up funding (from the Texas Water Development Board) are in the works.

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With Texas experiencing its worst single-year drought on record, its effects and debate over what constitutes proper water policy and management are again at center stage. Here are two reports – one from the Texas Water Journal summing up water-related legislation passed in the last legislative session and the other from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department summarizing the condition of lakes, springs, fish and wildlife. The Parks and Wildlife report was published in July. Conditions have since taken a turn for the worse.

Staying informed and having a stake in the state's and your water future make both reports worthy reads.

Send your comments and questions to twri@tamu.edu, tom.harvey@tpwd.state.tx.us, or click on the "comments" at the bottom of the report

The Texas Water Journal is published in cooperation with the Texas Water Resources Institute, part of Texas AgriLife Research, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University. (Photo by Leroy Williamson, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

"Water, taken in moderation,
cannot hurt anybody."
- Mark Twain, 1866

Read the full report (pdf download) from the Texas Water Journal website: http://journals.tdl.org/twj/index (Scroll to the bottom and click on the cover page)

In the 82nd Legislature a proposed constitutional amendment (and accompanying bill) championed by The Nature Conservancy and supported by Sierra Club and others was introduced to extend the tax break to landowners practicing water stewardship (these landowners must qualify for the agricultural tax break first). The proposed amendment passed both houses easily and will be on the November ballot for voter approval as Proposition 8. Rulemaking would have to follow voter approval in order to establish the process for qualifying for a water stewardship tax break.

TPWD Drought threatens fish, wildlife and parks – Across the state, many springs and rivers are trickling and Texas lake levels are way down. In the west, some reservoirs have gone practically bone-dry, including O.C. Fisher near San Angelo. “What’s on my mind is with continued lack of rainfall we could see impacts on fish and wildlife that could be apparent for years to come,” said Cindy Loeffler, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s top water resource expert.

Website for the Texas Drought Task force: http://agrilife.tamu.edu/drought/